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THE LIFE 



PROF. R T. KEMPER, A.M, 



THE CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR. 



_ 3' ^■^'' BY 

/ A-; QUARLES, D.D. 



Published for Mrs. S. H. Kemper. 



BURR PRINTING HOUSE, 

New York. 






:2 ^ z 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

INTRODUCTORY. , v 

CHAPTER I. 
The Family History.. 15 

CHAPTER II. 

Home and Early Life ......... , 29 

CHAPTER III. 
Leaves Home for Missouri ..... 47 

CHAPTER IV. 
Marion College 63 

CHAPTER V. 
Life at Marion College 79 

CHAPTER VL 

In Marion County, After Graduation. 103 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Boonville Boarding-School 120 

CHAPTER VIIL 
The Male Collegiate Institute of Boonville. 140 

CHAPTER IX. 
His Marriage 164 

CHAPTER X. 
Kemper Family School 179 



iv CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XL 

PAGE 

Westminster College. . , . .. .o ............... . , . 197 

CHAPTER XH. 
The Kemper Family School, 1861-1881. 219 

CHAPTER Xni. 
The Reunion 238 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Well Done ! 258 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Perfected School . . 280 

CHAPTER XVI. 
The Educator , 301 

CHAPTER XVn. 
The Maker of Men 321 

CHAPTER XVHI. 
The Sage 343 

CHAPTER XIX. 
The Moralist „ 364 

CHAPTER XX. 
The Christian 384 

CHAPTER XXI. 
The Victor Crowned 406 

APPENDIX. 
A Bereaved Mother 453 



INTRODUCTORY. 

"Who reigns within himself, and rules passions, desires^ and 
fears, is more than king." — Milton. 

There are several classes of great men. There are 
some whose grandeur of spirit never manifests itself, 
except to the small inner circle of special friends. 
Another class of the world's elite, 

"... the few, the immortal names^ 
That were not born to die," 

succeed in securing a place upon the scroll of fame, 
and as poet, painter, sculptor, and historian, photo- 
graph their memory for future generations. These 
are of two widely distinct classes, the intellectually 
great and the morally great. It is a curious and 
sad fact that many if not most of those whom the 
world has delighted to honor have achieved their 
distinction by virtue of mental rather than of moral 
power. Run the eye down the galleries of the tem- 
ple of fame, and you will find that the towering and 
conspicuous statues are of those who have extorted 
the homage of mankind by making the widow sigh 
and the orphan weep. They " have paved their way 
with human hearts." They have changed the map 
of nations by new boundaries, traced with the red 
lines of human blood. They have changed the cur- 



VI IN TROD UCTOR V. 

rent of the world's history by choking its channel 
with the bodies of their victims. 

"... On history's fruitless page, 
Ten thousand conquerors for a single sage." 

Of a few, happily, this is not true. One of the 
greatest of uninspired men is here the most illustri- 
ous example. He was merely a student and a teacher. 
He never wore a warrior's heralet nor drew a sol- 
dier's sword, and yet his influence over human 
thought in western civilization, for nearly twenty 
centuries, was well-nigh supreme. To-day, though 
no '^ storied urn nor animated bust" may exist to 
perpetuate his memory, yet in the text-books and 
the languages of Christian civilization, and in the 
thinking of the world's sages, he possesses a " mon- 
umentum sere perennius," and the college senior as 
w^ell as the learned philosopher unite with the school- 
man of the Middle Ages in calling Aristotle " The 
Master" in the realm of human thinking, even as 
Dante saw him, in the world of departed spirits, 
" seated amid the philosophic train," " maestro di color 
che saitno." 

But they are the world's true heroes who are so 
written in the heraldry of heaven. The man who 
brings his selfishness, his genius, his life, and lays it 
all upon the altar of service to his fellows, shows a 
spirit likest unto His who went about continually 
doing good, who came not to be ministered unto, but 
to minister and give His life a ransom for many. The 
spirit of Christ is the spirit of self-renunciation for 
the sake of others. 

It is not meant that every one who does a kind act 
is entitled to be called great. Eminence is essential 



INTRODUCTORY. Vii 

to greatness. A great conqueror must show skill 
beyond that of the average of soldiers. The great 
thinker must display an intellectual vigor which 
elevates him above his compeers. So the man for 
whom the highest of all claims is made, that of moral 
grandeur, must be one who has distinguished himself 
by a spirit of generosity and by deeds of benefaction. 
Every rivulet is not a river, nor any pond a sea. 
If we call every hill a mountain, what name shall we 
give to the peaks that pierce the clouds and crown 
themselves wnth the eternal snows .'^ 

But there are grades as well as kinds of greatness. 
A hill may not be a mountain, and yet it is not a 
part of the valley or the plain. Within the limits of 
a district more or less wide, to his own generation 
and in his own profession, a man may be eminently 
useful, far above his contemporaries and associates, 
and yet he may not attain unto the first or even 
the second rank of the heroes of the race. A great 
mind, or a warm heart, or a strong will, used for a 
grand purpose, makes a great life. 

It is such a life that we are now to consider. A 
life rooted in the soil of true humility, but lifting 
its trunk and magnificent branches above the sur- 
rounding forest — a banyan in its wide-spreading 
influence, a cedar in its evergreen freshness, an oak 
in its majestic strength, an apple in its generous 
fruitfulness, a tree of knowledge from whose laden 
boughs hundreds of eager souls have eaten and been 
made wise. Frederick Thomas Kemper was a man 
among men. Richly endowed in intellect, in feel- 
ing, and in will, he devoted his life, with all its 
wealth of resource and with a heroic singleness of 



viii IN TROD UCTOR V. 

purpose, to the work of raising his fellow-men from 
ignorance and vice to intelligence and virtue. 
Forty years he spent in the school-room. Forty years 
of labor, patient, persevering, self-sacrificing, in- 
telligent, efficient, successful. A teacher, a profes- 
sional teacher— more than that, an educator ; a worker 
upon and within the human mind ; the developer of 
thought ; the purifier and elevator of affection and 
desire ; the trainer of habit ; the fashioner of char- 
acter ; the maker of men. The giddy, greedy, am- 
bitious world did not know him. No listening sen- 
ates nor applauding multitudes ever recognized his 
merits. No roll of musketry nor roar of cannon 
sounded their coarse praises as he was laid to rest. 
But to hundreds and thousands who did know him 
well, he was the simplest, truest, noblest soul ever 
met in these days of sham and mediocrity, these days 
of energy and intelligence. As we shall reviev^r his 
life and study his character, we shall be taken to 
Mount Olympus, and there see him a veritable Jupiter 
Tonans, wielding the sceptre of conscious power, 
and reducing to unquestioning obedience every soul 
around him. But we shall also be led up the height 
of Calvary, and there behold him as '' the disciple 
whom Jesus loved," as the gentle, generous spirit to 
whom a dying Saviour would have intrusted his 
weeping, desolate mother. 

This volume is a biography. It is, however, not 
so much a record of events of a startling or even an 
impressive nature, as it is an attempted portraiture 
of a strong and noble character. In the life of the 
most earnest and successful teacher there is little to 
gratify an idle curiosity or to enlist the interest of 



INTRODUCTORY. ix 

the reader of romance. Those for whom it is spe- 
cially written will be most gratified where the 
draughtsman shows the least of his art and the most 
of his subject. His fellow-workmen will appreciate 
it in proportion as they shall find in it a true and 
living description of their foreman. 

In one sense it is a volume of memoirs, in an- 
other it is not. While it contains some personal rec- 
ollections of his friends, these do not form a prom- 
inent feature of the work. It is, however, a piece 
of mosaic. Most of the beautiful squares were fur- 
nished by the master himself. Indeed, it is largely 
an autobiography, and the purpose has been to make 
it as much so as possible. Let him be seen as he 
was, and as he revealed himself in his own acts and 
words. He kept a journal from his earliest man- 
hood ; not of his acts (for there is very little of his 
outer life in the records), but of his thoughts, feel- 
ings, purposes, plans. Thus has he for himself set 
forth his inner life. 

The work, as has been already suggested, is a bou- 
quet, its richest beauties cut by the great teacher 
himself. But other flowers have also been contrib- 
uted. Of these, some of the chief are from his sister, 
Mrs. Sarah M. Bocock, whose graceful pen and 
tender, touching thoughts will be recognized in the 
earlier portions of the life. His cousin, Mrs. Louisa A. 
Kemper, of Cincinnati, has also furnished a very in- 
teresting sketch of the family history. But, except 
himself, the work is chiefly indebted to the woman 
who for nearly twenty-seven years had the honor to 
be his cherished and respected wife. Tliere is no one, 
perhaps, " with soul so dead " that he can read un- 
I 



X INTRODUCTORY. 

moved her simple recital of his closing hours, or 
with an undimmed eye can turn the pages which 
tell of the seven little graves that were made before 
their father was laid beside them. 

To the reputed author of the volume has belonged 
the humbler service of furnishing the tie which binds 
these flowers together. It is hoped that the band, 
which is not of silk, will not be seen ; or, if seen, 
will not be noticed. It need not be said that the 
honor was by him unsought. " It is no easy thing 
to write for the public eye an account of a deeply 
venerated friend whom death has newly taken. It 
is a task on which one might w^ell shrink from en- 
tering, save at the wish of those whose desire m such 
a matter carries the force of a command. He who 
makes the attempt can scarcely avoid two opposite 
perils. Strangers will be apt to think his admira- 
tion excessive. Friends more intimate than himself, 
on the other hand, will find a disappointing incom- 
pleteness in any estimate formed by one less close 
than they, — one who, seeing only what his own 
nature allowed him to see, must needs leave so much 
unseen, untold. Between these conflicting dangers 
the only tenable course is one of absolute candor. 
To fail in candor, indeed, would be to fail in re- 
spect. Obedience is the courtesy due to kings, and 
to the sovereigns of the world of mind, the courtesy 
due is truth." 

It was only at the call of Mrs. Kemper, supple- 
mented by the urgency of several common friends, 
that the work was undertaken. It has been a labor of 
love ; nay, more, of reverential gratitude. The writer 
was put under Mr. Kemper's care in the year 1845, 



IN TK OD UC TOR V. X i 

and continued with him until the summer of 1854. 
No other pupil was so long under his tuition. Since 
his manhood he has felt more and more that in 
this he enjoyed an inestimable privilege. Moreover, 
contrary to every expectation of his early life, he 
has been led, in the providence of God, to the 
teacher's profession. This has given him a sympathy 
with his old master and an appreciation of his char- 
acter, which he could not otherwise have enjoyed. 
No one who is not himself a Christian is in a posi- 
tion rightly to estimate the character which is now 
to be reviewed ; for, as will be most clearly seen, the 
foundation of that character was a reverent trust in 
the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour of sinners. 

The author has accepted the trust with a reverent 
purpose to discharge it to the best of his ability, and 
to inscribe upon the effort, as the chief end to be 
sought, the sentiment, so fully realized by Mr. 
Kemper, and by him often written in his journals — 
Jo^a tgS deep. 



THE LIFE 



OF 



PROF. F. T. KEMPER. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FAMILY HISTORY. 

"It is indeed a blessing when the virtues 
Of noble races are hereditary, 
And do derive themselves from the imitation 
Of virtuous ancestors." Nabb, 

In this land of democratic ideas we find several 
evil tendencies, so far as family pride is concerned. 
Of these, the worst, undoubtedly, is the disposition to 
pay court to wealth Money is not a thing to be de- 
spised in itself. Indeed it is a good and necessary 
thing. Moreover, when it is associated with gen- 
erosity and intelligence it deserves to be honored. 
Still more, when it is the symbol and proof of frugal, 
persevering, wisely directed, and honest industry, in 
those who have amassed and hold it, it becomes the 
index of mental and moral qualities which challenge 
our esteem. But surely in civilized lands there can 
be no more abject idolatry than that which fawns upon 
and flatters the rich merely because they have money. 
Nevertheless there are thousands that do it. The 
wealth may have been gotten by trickery, or by open 
dishonesty, or by grinding the faces of the poor ; it 
may be associated with ignorance, boorishness, and 
depravity, and yet " the cloth of gold," as Hare says, 
" hides all these blemishes," and the wicked, ignorant 
millionaire is looked up to as a demigod, his wife is 



1 6 THE LIFE OF FROF. KEMFER. 

courted in society, and his children are flattered as 
paragons. 

But men who may not bow at the gilded shrine of 
mammon may become excessively democratic in dis- 
paraging the nobility of birth. But heredity is a law, 
both in the natural and the moral worlds. God wrote 
it, with his own finger, on the stony tablet, when 
he declared that the iniquity of the father should be 
visited upon the children of the third and fourth 
generations, and that his mercy should be shown 
to thousands of pious generations. It is a law which 
is seen written in the flesh and bones, in the habits 
and character, to a more or less marked degree, of 
every family in every ct)mm unity. Like every other 
law, it is subject to modifications, from the co-opera- 
tion or opposition of other laws ; so that the excep- 
tions are but the operation of the composition of 
forces. It is a great thing to belong to a good family. 
It is a blessing to come of a healthy stock ; so that 
the soul has a good house in which to live, and good 
tools with which to work. It is a greater blessing to 
come of an intelligent stock, to inherit a mind capa- 
ble of conceiving and of executing great and noble 
plans in life. It is perhaps a greater blessing to 
come of a gentle, cultured stock ; to be cradled and 
trained in the nursery of refinement and social ele- 
gance. It is the greatest blessing of all to come of a 
pious stock ; not from a family of Pharisees, but 
from one whose various branches can say, "The 
Lord has been our dwelling-place in all generations ;" 
and of whom others may say, " Ye are a chosen gen- 
eration, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar 
people." 



THE FAMILY HISTORY. 17 

They whose family has no claim to consideration 
beyond its wealth vulgarly magnify the value of 
riches. They whose family record is either negative 
or positively besmirched, upon whose escutcheon the 
bar sinister is a conspicuous feature, naturally under- 
rate all family pretensions. They whose ancestial 
record is chiefly negative, but also contains some 
bright and it may be brilliant pages, and yet them- 
selves are at best but negative, are prone to overvalue 
the blood which infinitesimally they inherit ; while 
the genuine " blue blood" of a truly noble ancestry, 
as it now courses through the veins of the undegen- 
erate sons of worthy sires, is but a stimulus to em- 
ulate the virtues which have served to make their 
ancestral name honored or illustrious. 

As will be seen from the family traditions now to 
be given, the Kempers were immigrants to this 
country from Germany, and were of a generous 
stock. It is believed, however, at least by some of 
the family, that they were originally Danes. Mrs. 
Louisa A. Kemper, the accomplished wife of An- 
drew C. Kemper, M.D., of Cincinnati, furnishes, in 
a letter to the wife of the subject of this volume, the 
following interesting statement of the ancestral his- 
tory : — 

" I have ' dug and delved ' until I have pieced out 
the records so satisfactorily that, as far as they go, 
they may be relied on as authentic. I doubt not 
Missourians will be glad to know that Frederick T. 
Kemper and Bishop Jackson Kemper were of the 
same lineage, the good bishop being a grandson of 
John Jacob Kemper, who settled in New York in 
1 741. His elder brother John had come to Virginia 



1 8 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

in 1714. John Kemper was the great-great-grand- 
father of Frederick T. Kemper. 

" My own personal correspondence with Bishop 
Kemper's grandson, Mr. Adams, and with Miss Eliza 
S. Quincy of Boston, has settled beyond dispute the 
fact of the brotherhood of John Kemper of Virginia 
and Jacob Kemper of New York. 

" From the fact of three brothers bearing the names 
of John, John Heinrich, and John Jacob, it is presum- 
able that their father bore the name of John. This 
John Kemper was a colonel in the army of the Prince 
Palatine (Frederick I. of Prussia), but after being, 
severely wounded was forced to retire upon a pen- 
sion. He was made Hereditary Commander of the 
fortress of Boekrack on the Rhine, in his native 
province of Nassau. 

" Kemper is a Dutch name, signifying a champion, 
a soldier, a defender, a striver for. [It is probably 
the German Kaempfer, which has the same meaning. 
There is a German name Kaempfer, seen in the 
author of the " History of Japan and Description of 
Siam." Q.] These Kempers were Palatines by birth 
and education, and seem to have zealously espoused 
the cause of the German Calvinistic Church. They 
became restive under the restraints of ' Church and 
State,' and two of them set out for Holland, where 
there was greater religious freedom. Shortly after 
reaching Amsterdam, John Kemper, the oldest brother, 
joined a colony about to set out for Virginia. The 
names of the twelve men composing the colony 
were John Kemper, John Fishback and his brother 
Holtzclaw, Utterback, Hoffman, Weaver, Martin, 
Coons, Wayman, Handback, and Hitt. 



THE FAMILY HISTORY. 19 

" This was the colony settled by Governor Spots- 
wood on his place in Orange County, and known as 
'Germanna.' But these sturdy Palatines were not 
content to stay with so hard a taskmaster as the gov- 
ernor ; and so, about 17 17, John Kemper, the Fish- 
backs, and some others decided to push northward 
into the woods of Lord Fairfax. This new settlement 
was called Germantown, and is now to be found a 
few miles south-east of Warrenton. 

" John Kemper married Alsey (Alice) Utterback ; 
and John Fishback married Agnes Hager, ' daughter 
of Parson Hager.' John Kemper and his wife Alsey 
had nine children — John Peter, Catherine, John, 
John Herman, Mary, John Jacob, Dorothy, John 
Henry, and Elisabeth. 

*'John Peter Kemper married Elisabeth, daughter 
of John Fishback and his wife, Agnes Hager, Dec. 7, 
1738. They opened up the tract of land, given by 
his father, known to us as ' Cedar Grove.' Here 
were born to them ten children — John, Peter, Sarah, 
Frederick, Judith, James, Charles, Elisabeth , Agnes, 
and Ailsie. 

" Frederick, the fourth child, was born June 20, 
1748. The house in which he was born is still stand- 
ing. Over the door was the Bible verse, '■ Believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, 
and thine house,' carved by a knife in a board, in 
German. I saw it when at Cedar Grove in 1875, and 
will send you a photograph of it, if you would like 
to have one. Frederick married Mary Jeffries, and 
they had five children — William, Agnes, Sarah, Su- 
sannah, and Lucy. He died Nov. 20, 1783, aged 35 
years and five months. He was thrown from a horse 



20 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

and killed, or he died from the effects of it. He lived 
at ' Pig Mountain,' Fauquier County, I suppose, from 
references in grandfather's diary. For many years 
the entry is made, ' Rod-e to Pig Mt., and saw sister 
Molly, all well.' 'Spent the night at Pig Mt.— had 
a settlement with sister Molly.' 

" I suppose you know William Kemper (the father 
of Frederick T.) came to Cincinnati nearly eighty 
years ago, to study under his uncle James. There 
seems to have been a very strong attachment between 
them, a proof of which William Kemper gave in nam- 
ing a son (the Governor) for his uncle. Governor 
Kemper told me that he was grandfather's namesake. 

" I have run out an outline for you, showing your 
husband's ' line of descent ' unbroken. There is much 
else in my books and ' in my head ' which I will fully 
give if it is wanted. 

" That in Germany the Kempers were somewhat 
better than the ordinary line of emigrants is proved 
by some of John Kemper's possessions. The family 
Bible^and books were extant and perfect when last 
seen (i 834) by living witnesses. I made a fruitless jour- 
ney into Garrard County, Ky., three years since, to 
find and see the Bible, which is described as a huge 
brass-bound book, weighing fifty-three pounds. At 
Cedar Grove is a gun, sent from Germany to John 
Peter Kemper, that proves, by its workmanship and 
elegance, to have been too costly a present for a 
peasant. 

" The Germantown people talked and worshiped 
in ' a German dialect,' up to the time of the war of 
independence, when they became merged in their 
surroundings. 



THE FAMILY HISTORY. 21 

" The Kemper likeness is something quite wonder- 
ful, cropping out as it does in the most unexpected 
way. Governor Kemper and my husband are wonder- 
fully alike. The pictures of Bishop Kemper's little 
great-grandchildren are very much like my own. The 
children of Dr. Kemper, of Muncie, Ind., descended 
from John Herman and John Henry Kemper, are 
strikingly like my own. Here in Cincinnati the 
prevailing ' ear-mark' is the brown eye, known as 
' the Kemper eyes.' ' ' 

Mrs. Sarah M, Bocock writes: "The two ancestors 
of the Kemper family of this country came over from 
Germany about the year 1700. They were said to 
have been Danes originally, and to have gone over 
into Germany from Denmark during some political 
troubles. Two of them came to this country and 
settled, one in New York and the other in Virginia. 
The descendants for a great while were principally an 
agricultural and also a godly people." 

From these statements it will be seen that the 
Kempers were Germans, that their earliest known 
ancestor was Colonel John Kemper, of the Prussian 
army ; and that the genealogy of Professor Kemper in 
the male line runs : Colonel John Kemper, the father of 
John Kemper, the immigrant to Virginia (wife, Alsey 
Utterback) ; the father of John Peter Kemper (wife, 
Elisabeth Fishback) ; the father of Frederick Kem- 
per (wife, Mary Jeffries) ; the father of William 
Kemper (wife, Maria E. Allison) ; the father of Pro- 
fessor Frederick Thomas Kemper. 

Of the Kempers of this country there are at least 
four, besides the subject of this volume, who have 
been distinguished men : The Rt. Rev. Jackson Kem- 



2 2 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

per, D.D., LL.D., bishop of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, who first presided over Indiana and Mis- 
souri, and subsequently over Iowa and Wisconsin. 
He was of the New York family. 

Colonel Reuben Kemper, born in Fauquier County, 
Va., the son of a Baptist preacher. He settled in Mis- 
sissippi, and became one of the most noted characters 
of that south-west country during the first quarter of 
this century. He was the determined foe of the 
Spaniard, the leader of several expeditions against 
them in Florida and at Mobile, the commander of 
the Americans who went to help the Mexicans throw 
off the Spanish yoke, and the trusted assistant of 
General Jackson in important and perilous duties 
connected with the defence of New Orleans. He was 
undoubtedly a strong character and a man of unusual 
courage. Kemper County, Mississippi, was named 
in his honor. 

The Rev. James Kemper, Presbyterian Bishop of 
Cincinnati, in the last decade of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, was perhaps as remarkable a man as either of 
the preceding. He was born in Fauquier County, 
Va., Nov. 23, 1753 ; was the son of John Peter Kem- 
per and Elisabeth Fishback ; and it is over the door 
of his father's house that the Scripture verse, already 
alluded to, is to be found engraved. When he was 
thirty-four years of age he was licensed, by the Pres- 
bytery of Transylvania, as a catechist, on the condi- 
tion " that he would not, by virtue of this appoint- 
ment, attempt to explain the sacred Scriptures, preach 
the gospel, or dispense the sealing ordinances there- 
of." He was licensed to preach, by the same pres- 
bytery, when he was thirty-six years of age, and 



THE FAMILY HISTORY. 23 

ordained to the full work of the ministry at Cincin- 
nati, Oct. 23, 1792. Of him the Rev. J. G. Montfort, 
D.D., says: "Perhaps no man in the valley of the 
Mississippi has been a first pioneer in so many places 
and departments as James Kemper. He was the first 
catechist ever appointed west of the Alleghanies and 
south of Virginia; the first student of theology ; the 
first licentiate of the first presbytery ; the first supply 
on the north side of the Ohio, in answer to the first 
request for preaching. He preached the first sermon 
in Ohio that was preached by a representative of the 
Presbyterian Church. He was the first minister or- 
dained on the north side of the Ohio, He preached 
the first sermon at the first meeting of the first pres- 
bytery that met in Ohio, it being his own ordination 
sermon. He received the first call, and was installed 
the first pastor on the north side of the Ohio. More- 
over, he preached the first sermon at the first meeting 
of the Presbytery of Cincinnati, and of the Synod of 
Cincinnati, in 1829. He was elected the first Moder- 
ator of the Presbytery of Cincinnati, and also of the 
Synod of Cincinnati." He settled Walnut Hills at 
Cincinnati, and was largely instrumental in founding 
Lane Theological Seminary. 

The last of the four is Governor James L. Kemper, 
the youngest brother of our Professor Kemper, still 
living in his native county in Virginia. He was a 
General in the army of the Confederate States, and 
was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Get- 
tysburg, where he greatly distinguished himself. He 
was chosen Governor of Virginia in the fall of 1877, 
and served his State to the satisfaction of the people. 

From this survey it is manifest that the Kempers 



24 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

are a family of positive characteristics, among which 
the most marked have been intelligence, courage, en- 
terprise, and piety. 

Of our Professor Kemper's family history, on his 
mother's side, we have no extensive information. 
There is, however, one character among the mater- 
nal ancestors so remarkable that every reader will 
thank Mrs. Bocock for the sketch of her which she has 
furnished for our perusal. It is the maternal grand- 
mother, Mrs. Mary D. Allison. Mrs. Bocock says : — 

" Mrs. Allison's maiden name was Dorothea Stad- 
ler. She was the only child of Colonel John Jasper 
Stadler. He was a trusted friend of General Wash- 
ington, and the engineer to whom was intrusted the 
planning of the fortifications of three States — Ma- 
ryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. His child 
thought that she had never known so perfect a char- 
acter as her father, and long after his death would 
amuse her children and grandchildren by telling 
them how^ she knelt and kissed the prints of his 
horse's feet as he rode off to headquarters, after a 
visit to her and her mother in their Stafford home. 

" Her early life was one of singular happiness in 
her own home, and she and her mother enjoyed to- 
gether the society that gathered about the old town 
of Fredericksburg in that day. She married Mr. 
Thomas Lawson Allison, a man of many attractions, 
but too fond of wine and sport. Both of her parents 
died soon after her marriage, and in a few years 
her husband died, leaving her many debts and five 
young children. Her father had received from the 
Government for his services a grant of a large body 
of land in what is now Kentucky, and on a part of 



THE FAMILY HISTORY, 



25 



which Lexington stands. While surveying the land 
they were surprised by the Indians and some of the 
party killed. Before it was -safe to return, Colonel 
Stadler died. His only child being a daughter, and she 
■in what seemed to be prosperous circumstances, but 
little effort was made to secure her Kentucky land. 
Thus before arriving at middle life she found her- 
self a widow, in totally changed circumstances pe- 
cuniarily, and poorly fitted to battle with adversity, 

'' In order to meet her husband's debts she sold 
her home and the greater part of her servants, and 
moved to a cottage on a small farm about ten miles 
above Fredericksburg, where she tried to adapt herself 
to her new conditions. Here she sought and found 
Him who is, as He promised to be, the Husband of 
the Avidow and the Father of the fatherless. 

" Many were the anecdotes told of her faith and 
its rewards. So powerfully were her neighbors im- 
pressed by her life that some of them were in the 
habit of recording her strange experiences. From 
these I send you two. 

" After she had become somewhat tranquil in her 
new life, a debt of considerable amount, of which she 
knew nothing, was brought against her. She felt 
almost powerless to meet it. Nevertheless she sold 
her gig and horse and whatever else was not neces- 
sary for her comfort, and still quite a little sum was 
needed to make up the amount Her habit now was 
to commit all her ways to the Lord, who, she seemed 
to realize, was indeed her ' Father in heaven,' and thus 
she was enabled, in an unusual degree, to Svait upon 
Him.' 

" One night she dreamed that a letter was handed 
2 



26 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

her, which on opening contained a bill or draft of 
just the amount needed to finish paying her debt. 
It was from Mrs. Race, then living in Genesee, N. Y., 
who had been her intimate friend in prosperity, but 
from whom she had not heard for a long time. Very 
soon after a neighbor, Colonel Briggs, rode by to tell 
her that he was going to town that day, and would 
attend to any command from her. She sent for some 
little purchases, and asked him to inquire at the post- 
office, as she was expecting an important letter. 

" The next morning a servant came, bringing the 
package, but no letter. Later in the day Colonel B. 
rode over and said, 'Well, Mrs. Allison, I suppose 
you received your package and letter ? ' She told 
him of her disappointment, and he assured her that 
he had not only got a letter, but had noticed that 
it was from Genesee, N. Y. ; and as it had been a 
long while since they had heard from their friend 
there,- that was one reason why he had come over 
that day. He at once rode back, made the servant 
show him just which way he had walked, and found 
the letter. It was from their mutual friend, and con- 
tained the sum needed to finish paying the debt. Mrs. 
Race, feeling anxious to hear from her old friend, 
and knowing of her reverses, had written this letter 
of inquiry, asking her to accept the inclosure as a 
memento of their early friendship. 

" At another time she was very anxious to attend 
a meeting of presbytery, which Avas to be held in 
Fredericksburg. Having no suitable conveyance 
now, she 'made her request known unto God,' as 
she believed she had a right to do. She became sat- 
isfied that she would go, and made all needed prepara- 



THE FAMILY HISTORY. 27 

tion. On the day on which presbytery was to meet 
she dressed herself ready to start, put up such cloth- 
ing as she thought would be needed while there, 
and laid out her bonnet ready to put on. When her 
family and servants spoke to her about it, she told 
them that God knew her desire to mingle with his 
people in worship, in his sanctuary on that occasion, 
and that she believed he would grant her request. 

" Toward the middle of the day a friend, Mr, Grin- 
nan, who lived in Madison County, forty miles away, 
drove- up in a gig. He sent a servant in to say that 
if she could get ready in a short time he would be very 
happy to have her compnay to town, but was sorry 
that he could not wait long, as he had a note to meet in 
bank on that day. She put on her bonnet, sent her 
little baggage by the servant, bade a loving adieu to 
her family, and was on her way to presbytery in a 
few minutes. 

" She never doubted the direct providence of God 
in these and many other incidents in her life. The 
light of her faith shone round about her to her dying 
day, and remained as a beacon to guide and animate 
surviving friends for generations afterward. The di- 
rectness and clearness of her faith was what impressed 
all who came in contact with her. 

" Her servants confided in her and loved her. and 
her God was worshiped by them as their God and 
Guide also. Though but a little child when she died, 
I well remember with what awe I listened to her 
voice at her family evening prayers, and how she 
would conclude the services by calling on ' Uncle 
Jack ' (an aged Christian slave) to pray. I recall as 
yesterday the tearful, earnest manner in which he 



2 8 THE LIFE OF FROF. KEMPER. 

would beg for blessings for every member of the 
family. 

"The two aged Christians, mistress and slave, have 
long since been washed and made white in the blood 
of the Lamb. In heaven they have loved their 
Saviour and each other none the less for the relation 
w^hich providentially existed between them here, and 
which both so beautifully adorned. Doubtless their 
prayers have stood as a memorial before God through 
succeeding generations ; and it may be seen yet, in 
the unfoldings of eternity, that the great grace given 
the subject of your memoir was partly in answer to 
those very prayers. Certain it is, he always cherished 
the most loving and tender memories of his grand- 
mother, whose love for him, as her oldest grandson, 
he valued as a rich inheritance. 

" ^ Uncle Jack ' lived a good while after his old mis- 
tress's death. I well remember his pleading prayers, 
after her death, when I was older and could be more 
attentive. It was in Stafford County, forty miles from 
our home. Our mother was in the habit of going 
there in. our childhood. She, too, enjoyed Uncle 
Jack's prayers." 

From these two recitals it is clear that good blood, 
both from the father's and the mother's side, minsfled 
in the veins of Frederick T. Kemper, and, as we shall 
see, showed itself in his character. His masculine 
virtues seem to have come from the paternal line, 
while the softer graces of his nature were an inheri- 
tance from his mother's ancestry. With regard to 
both, we are reminded of the Psalmist's words, " God 
is in the generation of the righteous." 



CHAPTER IL 

HOME AND EARLY LIFE. 

*' I love that dear old home ! My mother lived there 

Her first sweet marriage years, and last and widowed ones. 

The sunlight there seems to me brighter far 

Than wheresoever else. I know the forms 

Of every tree and mountain, hill and dell ; 

Its waters gurgle like a tongue I know ; — 

It is my home." Mrs. Frances Butler. 

The father of our Professor Kemper, as we have 
ah^eady learned, was William Kemper, who in his 
earlier life was a merchant at Madison Court-House, 
Virginia. There are probably many readers who are 
somewhat mystified by the term " Madison Court- 
Ilouse.'" They will be relieved by the statement that 
it was quite common, in the settlement and organiza- 
tion of Virginia, to call the county capital or seat of 
justice the Court-House. Thus we have Appomat- 
tox Court-House, rendered famous by the inter- 
view between Generals Lee and Grant. Madison 
Court-House was the village in Madison County 
where the courts were held. 

Mr. William Kemper was a successful merchant, 
but, tiring of the business, he invested his means in 
lands not far from the Court-House. He was a man 
of strong and sterling traits of character. There lie 



30 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

before me some half a dozen letters written by him to 
his sons. The earliest are dated 1832. In those days 
there were no envelopes for letters. Many of us for- 
get how, in these little things, times have improved 
since our childhood. People comparatively young 
can remember when mucilage and blotting-paper 
were unknown, and we thought the old red wafer and 
the sand-box great conveniences. It was a part of 
the regular instruction, given by Professor Kemper on 
the art of letter-writing, to show us how to fold a sheet 
of old-fashioned letter-paper so that it would be 
smooth and the direction could be written on the last 
page. Those, too, were the days when there were no 
star routes nor expedited mails, and yet every letter 
cost its writer or reader twelve and a half cents post- 
age if a single sheet, and double that amount if two. 
In one of the epistles of William Kemper, to which 
we have alluded, reference is made to a letter on 
which the postage was seventy-five cents, and the old 
gentleman very gravely doubts whether its contents 
were worth the money. 

As another illustration of the progress of this coun- 
try, we read in one of his letters, written in the year 
1836, the following about Chicago and Illinois : ''You 
will sometimes see the women wading through the 
mud up to their ankles, barefooted and barelegged. 
When you go into their houses, instead of a broom 
you will see a shovel or a spade to clean out the mud. 
Then read the description of Chicago, Illinois, in the 
Observer^ and you will see how easy it is for people 
who are interested to paint things in high colors. 
But the richness of that soil will sustain such a dense 
population that, I have no doubt, the time is not far 



HOME AND EARLY LIFE. 31 

distant when they will sway the destiny of these 
United States," In less than fifty years that son lived 
to see Chicago a city of more than half a million of 
inhabitants and the grain emporium of the world. 

One marked trait in the father's character, as re- 
vealed in these letters, was a disposition to look on 
the dark side of any question which greatly concerned 
him. It sometimes shows itself in a way that is 
almost amusing. 

These letters further evince that he was a man of 
strong native intelligence. There is a robustness and 
vigor about his thoughts and modes of expression 
which make you cease to wonder that the unlettered 
merchant and farmer should have been the father of 
a Governor of Virginia, of one of the most distin- 
guished teachers of the country, and of a daughter 
who is worthy of being named in company with her 
illustrious brothers. 

He was a man of a high sense of commercial honor. 
It is unnecessary to give the details, but one of his 
letters clearly reveals this, in the advice given to one 
of his sons, but a boy, who might be influenced, he 
was afraid, by the questionable advice of another. 

More than all this, he was, without doubt, a man 
of sterling though modest piety. He was an elder 
in the church for many years; and there is hardly 
one of these letters which does not show that with 
him religion was "the one thing needful." A few 
brief extracts will here be interesting. He writes : 
" I have one request to make of you, and that is, to 
make a business of writing to your younger sisters 
and brothers, separately and by name. I am the 
more anxious for this because I think you can make 



32 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

a more powerful appeal to their tender consciences, 
and a deeper and more ^lasting impression on the 
subject of religion, in this than in any other way, 
and think that you can be the means of doing them 
more good than if you were present." Again : " It 
would be vain, in such an ignoramus as myself, to 
say a word on the subject of religion to one Avho has 
now been about four years under, I hope, the best 
and the brightest ; but I will say that I think all 
knowledge, is worth but little without religion. 
Therefore, read your Bible, and pin your faith to no 
man's sleeve." Once more : " I know that education 
is an all-important thing, and I have felt the want of 
it all my life. But the most of the literary men are 
poor ; and when I read in your paper last year about 
the German literature, I had almost concluded that 
it had made them fools. I have no doubt but many 
a poor illiterate Christian, who never read anything 
but his Bible, is happier and will shine much brighter 
in heaven than they will, with all their mistaken the- 
ology." 

Frederick T. Kemper was also the son of Maria E. 
Allison, whose remarkable mother has already in- 
terested us. The cases are certainly rare in whicli 
great men have not been the offspring of mothers of 
more than ordinary character. How far the physical 
law of heredity will account for this it is perhaps 
impossible to say. There are moral reasons for it, 
however, which it is not difficult to see. As the 
whole shape and durability of a house depend on the 
foundation, so the superstructure of the matured 
life is generally determined by the early influences 
which form the basis of the character. These early 



HOME AND EARLY LIFE. ^2> 

influences are mainly furnished by the mother, during 
those impressible years when her plastic power 
moulds the habits and fashions the principles which 
are the foundation of the after-life, and make or mar 
the man. 

Mrs. William Kemper was such a woman, not en- 
dowed with masculine or heroic virtues, but gifted 
with powers which are none the less potent though 
more gentle in their operation. She was naturally a 
poet, fond of music and of flowers. Who can meas- 
ure the moral might of a mother's lullaby, as, with 
words which breathe the sentiments of heaven and a 
voice whose melody is that of the angels, she sings 
her son to sleep night after night for half a score 
of years ? His pupils, at least of the earlier days, 
often heard him sing Kirke White's " Star of Beth- 
lehem." He learned that song from his mother's lips 
as she rocked him to rest, a little boy on the moun- 
tains of Virginia 

Mrs. Bocock writes : " Do you remember a story 
that brother Frederick used to tell the boys some- 
times, in talking to themi about the love of a mother 
and their duty to her .? When a boy he had spoken 
rather petulantly to his mother one day, when she 
made some request of him. He went off to his 
duties, but his conscience hurt him so he could not 
rest. He went to her chamber to ask her forgiveness. 
She was not there. He looked all around, but could 
not find her. Then he sat down and wrote her a loving 
note, asking her pardon for his manner to her that 
morning. He gave it to a servant, telling her to hunt 
for her mistress until she found her. After a while 
the servant returned, bringing him a large, beautiful 



34 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

rose! She had been found among her flowers, and, 
true to the delicate promptings of her nature, she 
sent this beautiful rose, without a word, knowing 
that his instincts would enable him to understand 
the meaning it conveyed." Can literature furnish a 
more exquisite incident than this ? Did we not say- 
truly that she was a born poet? 

She was also a woman of decided piety. Her love 
of truth and conscientious fear of deviating from it 
were such as often created a smile among her friends. 
To say that Mrs. Kemper made a statement was 
understood to mean that no further testimony could 
be needed. What higher element can a character 
have.f* No one without it can be rich; none with it 
can be poor. The Rev. Daniel B. Ewing, D.D., 
writes in her obituary : " The spiritual welfare of 
her household was the most prominent object of her 
life. It was her habit, when her children were young, 
to retire daily with them, and, kneeling before her 
God, to commend them with tears to his fatherly 
care. Who can tell how much of that grace, which 
has shone in children and in children's children, is 
due to her prayers and influences ?" 

Well might each of her sons and daughters say : 

" She led me first to God ; 
Her words and prayers were my young spirit's dew, 

P'or when she used to leave 

The fireside every eve, 
I knew it was for prayer that she withdrew. 

How often has the thought 

Of my mourned mother brought 
Peace to my troubled spirit, and new power 

The tempter to repel ! 

Mother, thou knowest well 
That thou hast blessed me since my natal hour." 



HOME AND EARLY LIFE. 35 

We shall be interested in the following family notes 
furnished by the facile pen of Mrs. Bocock : — 

" Brother Frederick thought that there were but 
few homes, even in old Virginia, which combined so 
many elements of beauty as that of his boyhood. It 
is still in the family. An old-fashioned brick house, 
in the midst of shade trees and shrubbery, on an 
eminence that commands a view in front of over fifty 
miles of the Blue Ridge mountains, with a wide ex- 
panse of hill, valley, and running streams between. 
To the rear is the Thoroughfare Mountain, a part of 
the family estate, and between the old-fashioned 
' falling-garden' and that little mountain is the Fam- 
ily Graveyard. 

" Here his taste for the beautiful was cultivated, 
not only by the surrounding scenery, but under the 
influences of a gentle, refined Christian mother, 
whose memory he ever loved to keep green. She 
lived to be eighty-five years of age, and her love for 
the young, for music and flowers, for kind and char- 
itable deeds, never abated. Even to old age she was 
rarely seen without some little flower or sprig of 
green upon her bosom. She drew and painted 
quaint pinks and roses until after she was eighty 
years old. This is a true, though faint, picture of 
his mother. His pupils will recall, in his talks te 
them, many an allusion, made with softened tone, to 
' My mother in old Virginia.' 

" Here too, no doubt, in the overflowing hospitality 
of his father's house, he imbibed that genial liabit 
which was so conspicuous in his social life. 

'' It is probable also that his ideas of independence 
on his own farm were acquired from the patriarchal 



36 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

example of his father, who (and this was not unusual 
in the South in those days) kept his own mill and 
shops — shoemakers', blacksmiths', and carpenters' — in 
full operation for the benefit of his own family and 
slaves. 

" His father never Vv^anted office of any kind, or he 
could have had any within the gift of his county. 
One thing is well remembered : he ardently desired 
to see some suitable system adopted for. the gradual 
emancipation of the slaves of the South. He never 
thought the relation in itself was wrong, however, and 
was himself a most humane master. 

" The subject of this volume inherited much of his 
sterling love of right from his father, who was left 
fatherless when a child, and lovingly cared for his 
widowed mother and for his sisters all through his 
long life. His son Frederick felt the value of ' a 
good name ' as an inheritance, when once, while a 
student at Marion College, Missouri, he needed 
a sum of money promptly, and went to an old 
Virginia settler to borrow it, offering good security. 
The old man replied, ' If you are a worthy son of 
your father, I need no security ; and if he has an un- 
w^orthy son, I shall not expose him.' 

" The population of Madison County was always a 
quiet, moral one. No railroad has penetrated the 
county to this day. 

" There were eight children in the family— four sons 
and four daughters. Mrs. Mary Freeman, the old- 
est child, died recently at her home in Georgia, a con- 
sistent Christian. Mrs. Susan Matthews and Mrs. 
Maria Botts lived honored Christian lives in Cul- 
peper County, Va., and died some years ago. Will- 



HOME AND EARLY LIFE. 37 

iam, the second son and third child, went with 
his older brother Frederick to Missouri, graduated 
at Marion College, then took charge of a classical 
school at Raymond, Mississippi, and died there of 
fever in less than a year. His character was a singu- 
larly pure and attractive one, much inclined to inno- 
cent merriment, and a joyous, earnest Christian^ 
His death was the first great sorrow of his mother's 
life. John, the third brother, is proprietor of the old 
home, ' Mountain Prospect,' and is a useful citizen, 
James L., the youngest brother, is practising law at 
the county seat of his native county, after having 
served his country as a brave officer and his State as 
legislator and governor." 

The family list is made complete by the addition of 
Frederick Thomas, the oldest son, and Mrs. Sarah 
M. Bocock, the youngest child. Of Mrs. Bocock 
nothing further need be said, as she speaks for her- 
self most engagingly in this volume. Her husband, 
however, deserves special mention. He was a brother 
of the Flon. Thomas Bocock, one of the ablest repre- 
sentatives whom Virginia has sent to the national 
Congress. He was the Rev. John. H. Bocock, D.D., a 
distinguished clergyman of the Presbyterian Church, 
a man of vigorous intellect, a veritable Titan in the 
pulpit. 

At Mountain Prospect, the family residence, in Mad- 
ison County, Virginia, on the fourteenth day of Octo- 
ber, 1S16, Frederick Thomas Kemper, the second child 
and oldest son of William and Maria E. Kemper, began 
his eventful life on this earth. We have already learned 
the influences around him in the family circle. 

The "fecenery of his home must also have made a 



38 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

great and lasting impression on him. We who have 
been born and bred upon the rich and beautiful 
prairie plains of the interior West can hardly have a 
conception of the blended beauty and sublimity of 
the mountains. It has been the writer s privilege not 
only to cross the Appalachian chain of the East at 
several different points, but also to stand upon the 
snow-capped summit of the greater Rocky range of 
the West. What shall one used to a softly roll- 
ing prairie say, as he stands at the foot of a real 
mountain, whose regal height the pines strive in vain 
to reach, though they gnarl their roots far up on 
its rocky sides in the endeavor ; whose towering top 
the hardy grasses, clambering inch by inch, fail to 
find ; whose majestic coronet is of granite, porphyry, 
agate, opal, and topaz, and upon whose shoulders 
there ever gracefully rests a mantle of snowy ermine ? 
He can only kneel in rapt adoration, and, as he looks 
still higher, exclaim, " Behold what hath God 
wrought !" " As we look up to thee it would seem 
as if God made thee with His mighty hand to notch 
His centuries in thy eternal rocks." As we see the 
flower, the grass, and the tree vainly struggle to 
gain thy pure and lofty summit, we think of human 
efforts to reach the mount of perfection, where the 
soil of earthliness is not known, and where all va- 
pors crystalize into the spotless snow of innocence. 
As we gaze upon thy pure, unshadowed height, our 
soul longs to breathe thy heavenly air, and we recall 
to mind a mount higher far than thine own, yet on 
whose top the tree of Calvary grows, around which 
the Rose of Sharon exhales its fragrance, and where 
the Lily of the Valley raises its head in modest but 



HOME AND EARLY LIFE. 39 

glorious triumph. It is not strange that mountains 
should make poets, and freemen, and Christians, and 
men. 

" My mountain home, my mountain home ! 
Though valleys fairer lie, 
My spirit pines amid their bloom — 

It shuts me from the sky. 
The mountains holier visions bring 

Than e'er in vales arise, 
As brightest sunshine bathes the wing 
That's nearest to the skies." 

As to the early education of our Mr. Kemper, we 
know that it was conducted at a home school on his 
father's place, until he was sent off to college. His 
father and Colonel Henry Hill, who had a large family 
on an adjoining estate, for many years employed 
teachers for the benefit of their own and their neigh- 
bors' families. 

Of his earlier teachers we know only two by name. 
Of one, the pastor of the family at the time, the Rev. 
A. D. Pollock, D.D., writes: "His own teacher, so 
far as I know (Alexander L.), was a very ordinary 
man, a dull man ; anything other than a genius in 
teaching or in anything else. In fact, the man that 
is a man usually makes himself, or rather comes 
out from within himself. Frederick did this in an 
eminent degree." 

The other teacher of whom we know was William 
H. Field, Esq., afterward a successful lawyer for 
twenty-five years in Louisville, Ky., of whom Pres- 
ident Laws, of the Missouri State University, once 
remarked that he was a man of senatorial dignity 
and intelligence. But'he well illustrates what is un- 
fortunately a very lar^e class of the teachers of this 



40 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

country. They are men, many of them, of very re- 
spectable talents, who teach merely as a stepping- 
stone to something else. Mr. Field made an eminent 
lawyer; he might have made an eminent teacher. 
But it is morally certain that he could and did ac- 
complish but little during the few months which he 
gave to the school-room. 

Mr, Kemper continued to attend the home school 
until the fall of 1829, when he was nearly thirteen 
years old. From a memorandum made by him on 
the back of one of his early journals, we know that 
he was placed as early as this in the store of Finks 
& Banks, at Madison Court-House, and that he re- 
mained in their employ tvv^o years. We know that he 
left Virginia about the first of October, iS3i,togo 
into business as a clerk with Messrs. Lough & Mc- 
Kee, merchants in Market Street, in the city of Balti- 
more; that he remained with them one year, when he 
returned, on account of the prevalence of cholera, to 
Madison Court-House, to enter the store of his uncle, 
Mr. Henry Allison, with whom he continued until 
January, 1834. The next two and a half years, until 
he was ready to leave home for Marion College, were 
probably spent in teaching his younger brothers and 
sisters, the first service which he performed in the 
profession in which he was destined to become so 
eminently useful. Mrs. Bocock says that he disliked 
the business of clerking. It does seem incongruous, 
with all we know of him, that he should ever have 
stood behind a counter. Boy as he was, he must have 
felt like Samson when he was grinding in the prison 
of the Philistines. That he was a popular and effi- 
cient clerk we know both from the testimony of the 



HOME AND EARLY LIFE, 41 

living and of the dead. We do not doubt this, for he 
was a man of conscience, and if he had been a boot- 
black he would have done his work thoroughly and 
well. 

We come now to one of the most interesting expe- 
riences of his life, indeed it is the most important, 
for it was the turning-point in his history. It was in 
the Fall of 1833 that he was converted to Christianity 
and joined the Presbyterian Church at Madison Court- 
House. He had just completed his sixteenth year. 
About a year before there had been a very remarkable 
revival of religion in the church at Fredericksburg, 
under the ministry of the Rev. S. B. Wilson, D.D. 
We have before us, in one of Mr. Kemper's letters, the 
testimony of an eye-Avitness that there were as many 
as one hundred and fifty anxious inquirers at one 
time. This meeting produced a great impression in 
all the surrounding country. In the fall of 1832 the 
Rev. A. D. Pollock took charge of the Presbyterian 
Church at Madison Court-House. Frederick T. 
Kemper had but lately returned home from Balti- 
more. Dr. Pollock gives this account in a letter to 
Mrs. Bocock : " Dr. Post, of Washington City, was 
holding a sacramental meeting at the Court-House, 
and thus I commenced my stationed ministry. When 
the communion board was spread, three persons came 
forward and were announced as communicants for 
the first time. One of the three was Frederick, 
then a clerk in Mr. Allison's store. That was forty- 
eight and a half years ago. That good and honest 
old man, your father, was then an elder of the 
church." 

Mrs. Kemper says : " He was favored with an 



42 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

intimate acquaintance with Mrs. Ann Swift, the 
mother of Mrs. Henry Allison. She was a w^oman 
of rare accomplishments and earnest piety. She was 
descended from a wealthy and influential French 
family, by the name of Roberdeau. The association 
and influence of this cultured woman doubtless had 
much to do in forming the character and destinies of 
the young boy. At this time a series of meetings 
were conducted by the Rev. Septimus Tustin, and 
Mrs. Swift attended them, taking Frederick with 
her, who at an early stage of the meeting became 
interested for his soul's salvation. 

" Mrs. Swift was not well at the time, but she was 
so concerned for her young charge that she would 
not stop. So the disease of her throat became so 
serious that medical skill failed, and she died after a 
few days' illness, testifying to the last hour her per- 
fect trust in her Saviour. Already Frederick had 
united himself with the people of God, and this 
sudden death of one he loved and who had guided 
his footsteps in the path of everlasting life, stamped 
most deeply his religious character." 

Mrs. Bocock gives a different but not an inconsis- 
tent, statement of the attending circumstances: — 

" The churches at Madison Court-House were in 
such a cold state that people said that religion was 
dead. The ministers who lived there at last resolved 
to hold a ministers' prayer-meeting, to pray for a re- 
vival. The young men w^ere mostly sceptical, under 
the lea.d of a young lawyer, who was a pronounced 
infidel and a cultivated, scholarly man. The general 
prayer-meeting of the village was a union one, but 
poorly attended. After a while it was noticed, to the 



HOME AND EARLY LIFE. 43 

great joy of the ministers, that there was an increase 
of the congregation, and they appointed nightly ser- 
vices. Soon some of the sceptical young men were 
seen in the audience. One night (I have heard 
brother Frederick tell it with tears in his eyes) the 
room or house was crowded. There was deathlike 
solemnity. The ministers invited every one who was 
anxious about his soul's salvation to make it known, 
that they might be assisted in their inquiries. To 
the astonishment of everybody in the house, the in- 
fidel young lawyer arose and asked to be prayed for. 
He said that he was utterly wretched. He knew 
that he had led others astray, and now would earnestly 
beg all who had been thus influenced by him to ask 
God for mercy, and to start with him to the heavenly 
kingdom. This had such an effect that a powerful 
revival continued for a long time. Almost all the 
people of the village, and many around, became 
Christians. That young lawyer is now the Rev. 
Horace Stringfellow, who, though now old, is one 
of the most useful men and ministers of the Episco- 
pal Church. Brothers Frederick and William were 
brought in at that time. I never heard, however, 
that either had ever been sceptical." 

It is a mighty change in any man's life when he 
becomes a Christian, whether previously he had been 
moral or immoral. The Scriptures call it a new 
birth, a resurrection from the dead, a new creation. 
These terms are not extravagant, nor meant to be 
Oriental hyperbole. They express a sober and a 
pregnant fact. Many, however, Christians and non- 
believers, mistake its nature. It is not such a moral 
transformation that its subject immediately becomes 



44 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

a perfect character. Thus it might have been, doubt- 
less, if God had so thought it best. So far from 
this, the converted man is, in one aspect, but little 
more like an angel than he was before. 

Habits and dispositions to form habits are the 
great facts and factors of human character. Habits 
are a growth, and are necessarily of slow and gradual 
formation. They are the exhibits of character, and 
are themselves the outgrowth and the proof of the 
dispositions that lie back of them and give them 
being, complexion, and development. When a man 
is converted, his dispositions are thoroughly and 
radically changed, but his habits are not. His moral 
tendencies are reversed, and in this lies the great 
fact and interest of his renewal. There is a new 
creation ; but it is a new creation, and must be de- 
veloped. It is a resurrected life, but a life that must 
be lived, and matured in the living of it. It is a new 
birth, but a birth into spiritual babyhood, that must 
have its infancy and youth before it reaches a ripened 
manhood. There is a new disposition, but this dis- 
position is to cast out the old and form and perfect 
new religious habits. This may be done very slowly, 
very gradually ; but always as surely as the purposes 
of God and the efficacy of Christ's atonement and 
the efficiency of the Spirit's sanctifying power can 
make it. 

It is a great thing then to become a Christian ; for it 
is the starting upon a new road, that leads onward and 
upward to the higher and the perfect life. It is a great 
thing to become a Christian, not only for himself, 
but also for the sake of others. For it is the intro- 
duction of a new spiritual force into our ruined 



I 



HOME AND EARLY LIFE. 45 

world, which, by the power of its moral attraction, 
is to lead others with it on the ascending path of 
purity and piety. Who can estimate the worth of 
that change in young Kemper's heart, when he was 
but sixteen years of age ? What a different boy he 
was, and how different a man shall be forever after- 
ward ! How much higlier and purer have been, and 
shall be, the lives of hundreds of others for the same 
reason ! 

He became a Christian when he was a boy. Scep- 
ticism may carp at this, and sneer that religion is for 
boys and women, and yet praise Epicurus for be- 
coming a sceptic at twelve. But these same boys, 
when they become men, yea, giant men, with " wrest- 
ling thews that throw the world," still cling to their 
religion as the dearest treasure of the mind. Our 
Frederick entered the Master's service in the morn- 
ing, and continued until the sun went down. The 
brightest, the strongest, the most useful Christians 
are the early ones. This is the rule, to which there 
are but few exceptions. The Bible pledges that it 
shall be so. The law of habit teaches that it must be 
so. A general observation shows that it is so. The 
case before us is a brilliant illustration, as we shall 
see, of this interesting truth. 

From the time of his connection with the Church, 
by a personal profession of religion, the evidence 
lies before us, in the letters of his pastor and his 
friends written nearly fifty years ago, that he was an 
earnest and decided Christian. Boy as he was, he 
witnessed a good confession, and left behind him in 
the Old Dominion, among his neighbors and friends, 
the name of a humble, steadfast follower of the meek 



46 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

and lowly Jesus. Writes Dr. Pollock : " We were 
sitting alone together, and talking of our personal 
troubles as Christians, and his soft voice said of him- 
self (I can hear it now), ' I am not worthy to name His 



CHAPTER III. 

LEAVES HOME FOR MISSOURI. 

"Ah ! you never yet 
Were far away from Venice, never saw 
Her beautiful towers in the receding distance, 
While every furrow of your vessel's track 
Seemed ploughing deep into your heart ; you never 
Saw day go down upon your native spires, 
So calmly with its gold and crimson glory, 
And after dreaming a disturbed vision 
Of them and theirs, awoke and found them not," 

Byron. 

Fortunately for us, Mr. Kemper kept a journal, 
beginning Tuesday, March 29th, 1836, and continued 
more or less regularly throughout his life. It is not 
a record of facts, but mainly of thoughts, feelings, 
purposes ; of his inner, not of his outer life. It is all 
the more precious and interesting to us that it is 
such. While we are surprised and disappointed to 
find tliat the allusions which he makes to the most 
important changes in his history are quite meagre, 
and that to some of them there is no reference in his 
journal, yet we can bear this with patient gratitude 
as we turn page after page, richly freighted with 
revelations of his real self, the hidden man of the 
heart. 

While these lines were all written with the thought 



48 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

that no CLirious eye would ever read them, and that 
they would never be exposed to the garish gaze of 
public scrutiny, yet they contain nothing unworthy 
of the man that wrote them, and much that show him 
to have been a profound philosopher of the mysteries 
of the human spirit, and at the same time the most 
humble and unsparing critic and censor of himself. 

There is need, of course, of the most judicious care 
in selecting the extracts to be published. No man 
would wish his inner life exposed recklessly to the 
view of the cold, critical, unsympathetic world. 
There are passages in the lives of us all,' which per- 
haps to our intimate friends are the tenderest and 
dearest, yet over which, for that very reason, there 
should be thrown the veil of hallowed privacy. 

He is now a youth, something more than nineteen 
years old. A few pages from his journal, made at 
this time, will show what kind of a young man he 
was : — 

" Tuesday^ 29//? March., 1836. — I have this morning 
made this book for the purpose of keeping a record 
of my history, and the manner in which I may spend 
my time in future. I have for some months past 
wasted much valuable time. May I be enabled, O 
Lord, so to number my days as to apply my heart 
unto wisdom." 

" Thursday, i^th April. — Spent greater part of 
forenoon in writing, or rather in learning to write. 
Think I have improved some since Monday, when I 
commenced going to the writing-school, taught at 
Madison Court-House by Mr. Davis. It is, in my 
judgment, no small or useless accomplishment to 
write a fair hand." 



LEAVES HOME FOR MISSOURI. 49 

^^ May /\th. — I have, notwithstanding my resohi- 
tions, wasted a great deal of my precious time in 
reading improperly as to manner and matter, vitiat- 
ing my taste, debasing my intellect, and making my- 
self a smatterer in every kind of knowledge as well as 
morals. I was thinking of these things this morn- 
ing, and of amendment. I think I am a being in the 
universe of God, my Maker. Whether I have talents 
few or many, I was made for something. What is 
it ? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. To be 
active, to improve my talents, to be useful. What 
are the best means to these ends? Study of God's 
will, in his word and providence ; prayer, self-com- 
munion ; obedience universal. Industry from morn 
till dewy eve. Self-denial, straining up perfection's 
hill. Order in conduct and distribution of my time. 
Keeping a strict account of every day's duties and 
sins, and examining at its close how I have fulfilled 
these obligations, and complied with these known 
duties. 

" I thank Thee, O Lord, that Thou hast given 
me health ; that Thou hast given me Christ to help 
my infirmities, and to be my whole Saviour. Help 
me to follow him daily ; yes, to-day, and to-morrow, 
and all my days. Melt my heart. Grant me repent- 
ance and faith, and every Christian grace. May I 
grow every day in Thy likeness. Give a direction 
to my thoughts that they may always run upon 
profitable subjects. Keep me humble, and useful, 
and holy, for Christ's sake. Amen and amen. 

" I purpose reading fifty pages per day in ' Watts 
on the Mind,' till I get through that book ; and then 
reading ' Abercombie on the Intellectual Powers.' 



5o THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER, 

As much as that, if I do not spend a good deal of 
time in reading explanations of his technical words. 
Lord, enlighten and strengthen my mind. May I 
improve morally and mentally, beyond my expecta- 
tion, and all to Thy glory and my good. Amen. 

" I will try to rise at 4 o'clock throughout the re- 
mainder of the spring and during the approaching^ 
summer, and to improve all my time, nay, 'redeem ' 
lost 'time,' I will strive to have my Greek grammar 
well committed to memory by the first of June, and 
Watts and Abercrombie both well read, and well 
understood, and well remembered, anti well pondered, 
and well practised. If this be done it will be but a 
small month's work, in comparison with the labor of 
such men as Ashmun. 

" I will have also a large portion of the Old Tes- 
tament (and some of the New) read by the first of 
June, if I live. Keep me, Jesus, from falling. Keep 
me low in the dust of humility. Make me vigorous 
and active." 

'■^ May 24M, Tuesday. — Am reading 'Watts on the 
Mind.' Much pleased with it. To extract its sweets, 
it must be read as his chapter on reading directs that 
any book should be read. 

" Had many temptations to-day. I praise and 
thank God that the sword of the Spirit was victorious 
in every conflict. I find more pleasure in quenching 
one of Satan's darts by the shield of faith, than in 
all sensual enjoyment. Keep me in my place, O 
Father, in the dust at Thy feet. 

" Did tolerably well in Greek grammar Have 
accomplished more than in some weeks of irregular- 
ity and sensual pursuits." 



LEAVES HOME FOR MISSOURI. 51 

" June Wi^ Wednesday. — I am very sensual ; too 
much so for a Christian or a student." 

^^ Saturday^ June i^th. — Rose this morning very 
late, after breakfast, owing in some measure to being 
up late last night. Without my morning devotions; 
which, I am sorry to say, have been much neglected 
of liate. I went to Mr. S.'s shop, where I met with 
such company, the keeping of which would justly 
give me the character of a companion of fools. I 
must confess that I was not benefited by this com- 
pany. I have been criminal in keeping it. If I do 
my duty at my various studies, I have but little time 
to spend in any company. Of course that should be 
of the best sort possible. Lost a day. Oh, how 
wicked, how unspeakably wicked ! May I awal^e to 
a sense of my religious and social obligations. I 
have been asleep all my life. Take me out of the 
pit of sloth, O Lord, and grant that I* may walk in 
the pathway of diligence and usefulness. 

" I have had a new confirmation of the importance 
of beginning the day by prayer to God. I can truly 
say that, to the best of my knowledge, all my days, 
begun in this way, have been (all other things being 
equal) much the happiest and most useful days of 
my life. 

" I have been confirmed in the importance of 
learning something from every person with wliom I 
meet. In a walk to James City, in a little casual 
conversation, I learned several things about the 
growth of wheat. In another casual conversation, 
learned something about elections, unknown before. 
I have been impressed with the importance of reading 
with more attention, and devoting more time to it; 



52 THE LIFE OF PROF. K EM PER. 

with the importance of speaking the truth strictly 
upon all occasions ; the importance of order in 
conduct. Learned something about the culture of 
tobacco. 

" Observed to-day, when an individual was reading 
aloud in my hearing, that those parts which he under- 
stood least he read the loudest. ' Empty barrels 
sound the loudest.' 

"I may be what I have resolved to be, and I may 
do what others have done, have been confirmed to 
me to-day," 

These copious extracts, from the first pages of his 
journal, have been given mainly for the purpose of 
showing from his own pen, his mental and moral 
condition at this period, when about twenty, and 
before he had left his home to come under the in- 
fluence of strangers. They show him as his character 
was formed and developed by his family, his church, 
his neighbors, his home. If his father and mother 
could look upon this photograph of their son, taken 
with the lights and shadows of the family fireside, 
they surely need not and would not blush, except as 
honest pride might mantle their cheeks. 

We have come now to another epoch in his life. 
He is to leave the old Virginia roof-tree, and, in the 
far distant West, as it was then, continue and complete 
his preparation for the duties of his mature manhood. 
He is to leave Virginia. Reared in the fertile valley 
of the Mississippi, the writer well remembers the 
feelings of mingled disappointment and pity which 
possessed him when he first looked on the red hills, 
the pine forests, and the sterile fields of his ancestral 
State. Only a few months since he again visited a 



I 



LEAVES HOME FOR MISSOURI. 53 

county adjoining Madison, and was impressed with 
the fact that, in many things, the old State seemed a 
lialf century behind the progressive West. 

All this may be so, and yet he who sneers at Vir- 
ginia betrays a lamentable ignorance of her history, 
or a woeful want of appreciation of the highest merit. 

" What constitutes a state ? 
Not high-raised battlement or labored mound, 

Thick wall or moated gate ; 
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ; 

Not bays and broad armed ports, 
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride ; 

Not starred and spangled courts. 
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfumes to pride. 

No, — men, high-minded men — 

Men, who their duties know, 
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain. 

These constitute a state." 

Triedby this test, the "mother of States and of states- 
men" at once comes to the very front. Like the 
mother of the Gracchi, her children are her jewels ; 
and though she be now and for years back arrayed 
in the weeds of mourning and humiliation, yet she 
finds herself adorned with a coronet in which there 
sparkle the brightest gems in our country's history. 
Who gave to our Revolutionary fathers their leader, 
'' first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of 
his fellow-citizens " ? Whose pen was it that wrote 
the charter of the nation's liberty, on the fourth of 
July, 1776.? Who was the ablest exponent and ad- 
vocate of the grandest piece of .political wisdom 
ever devised by man, the Constitution of the United 
States.^ All these, the proudest names in our coun- 
try's annals, were Virginians. Take the work of 



54 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Virginians out of the warp and woof of our national 
life, and the whole web would fall to pieces. Vir- 
ginia has furnished the best blood of Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee^ Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, southern Illinois, 
Indiana, and Ohio. They are her children, and what 
they are to-day, in the purest elements of their civ- 
iliz'ation, they owe largely to the mother state. It 
was Virginia that nourished Kentucky's greatest 
statesman, the princely " Harry of the West." It was 
Virginia that bared her gallant breast to the storm 
and received the scars of the mighty conflict which 
for four years shook this continent to its centre. It 
was Virginia that furnished the able and gallant 
Thomas to the Union, and Lee, the second Washing- 
ton, and Stonewall Jackson, the military genius of 
the age, to the Confederacy. It was Virginia that 
gave to the world of science the modest Maury, who 

" Laid his hand upon the ' ocean's mane,' 
And played familiar with his hoary locks." 

It is Virginia that has to-day within her beautiful 
valley some of the most excellent schools in this 
land. It is Virginia that, on the eastern slope of her 
mountains, has her famous university, the pride of the 
Southland, the pride of this country, whose diploma 
is the highest literary honor given an undergraduate 
on this continent. 

She has been as renowned in the Church as she has 
been in the state. We speak alone now of Presby- 
terians, as being more familiar with their history. It 
is doubtless true that in other branches of the Church 
she has been as eminent. But to the Church of 
Calvin and Knox she has given Davies, the Alexan- 



LEAVES HOME FOR MISSOURI. 55 

ders, the Hoges, the Lacys, the Rices, the Breckin- 
ridges, the Browns, Stuart Robinson, and, peer of 
them all, Robert L. Dabney. There are no more 
illustrious names in the annals of the Church upon 
this continent than these, and no other State, north or 
south, can present such an array. 

But the grandest glory of Virginia remains to be 
told. Eminent as she is in cabinet, in Congress^ in 
the White House, on the tented field, in the halls of 
learning, and in the pulpit, her proudest honor is to 
be found in her quiet homes, her yeomanry, her 
honest, gallant men, her virtuous, refined women. 
The truest chivalry in this land is in the Old Dominion- 
She may be poor, but there is less of crime, both in 
its grosser and subtler forms, within her borders ; 
and there is more of domestic and civil virtue and 
genuine piety than may, for territory and popula- 
tion, be found anywhere else, perhaps, on this wide 
world. 

Mr. Kemper is now to leave the grand old State 
and wend his way westward to complete his educa- 
tion on the sunset-side of the Mississippi. This 
seems to us a strange move. It was not for lack of 
good schools in Virginia. There was old William 
and Mary ; there was Washington College, now 
the Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, 
where his youngest brother, Governor Kemper, was 
educated. There, within less than a day's ride on 
horseback, was the great University founded by Jef- 
ferson. Why he was not sent to any of these, and 
why he went over a thousand miles to a college in a 
frontier State, we m.ay not be able fully to understand. 
It is perhaps enough to say that the spirit of adven- 



56 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

turous enterprise, which leads so many westward, 
and the fame of the college at that time, of which we 
shall have occasion to speak more fully hereafter, 
were the principal inducements. 

. At any rate, on Tuesday, August 23d, 1836, he took 
the western stage at Madison Court-House, and start- 
ed to Cincinnati on his way to Marion College, Mis- 
souri. The meagre notes of his journal will describe 
the trip : 

'• Tuesday, 2yd. — From the Court-House toWalker's, 
on side of the mountain, this side of Stanardsville. 
Fine weather. Spent the day at Paris' Hotel, in Al- 
legheny County. Charged me one dollar for dinner, 
supper^ and washing three pieces. Took stage after 
dark, and spent Tuesday night at Shumate's. 

" Wednesday. — From Shumate's to Callaghan's to 
breakfast. Dined at the old man's, who did not live 
there, but stayed; did not know beef from mutton. 
Night at Dean's. 

" Thursday morning. — Breakfast at a long fellow's 
house. Have forgotten his name (Morris, perhaps). 
Dined at a short mans. Excellent dinner. Supped 
at Kanawha House in Charleston. 

''''Friday. — Breakfast at 'a fine old fellow's.' Saw 
Hawk's Nest, then the Burning Spring and salt works 
in Kanawha. Dined at Guiandotte. Supped on 
steamboat. 

" Saturday. — Breakfast on steamboat. Dined at 
Cincinnati Hotel." 

He was thus five days going from Madison Court- 
House to Cincinnati, partly on the stage and partly on 
steamboat. This was good traveling for that period. 
The same distance can now be traversed in a day. 



LEAVES HOME FOR MISSOURI. 57 

He spent several weeks at the metropolis of Ohio in 
company with his relatives, the family and descendants 
of the Rev. James Kemper, the noted pioneer preach- 
er. His venerable widow, whom he calls "Aunt 
Nancy," was then alive. 

He manifestly enjoyed his visit, and almost every- 
thing he saw made a pleasant impression on him. 
His kindred lived at Walnut Hills chiefly, which is a 
most delightful portion of the suburbs of the city. 
He attended a lecture at the Lane Theological Sem- 
inary, and heard Dr. Joshua Wilson preach. There 
are some interesting entries in his journal made while 
here : 

" Sunday., \Wi Sept.^ 1^36. — Feel somewhat indis- 
posed. No calm contempla,tion, /.<?., no protracted 
thought, such as is requisite for forming energy, de- 
cision, and perseverance of character. How I have 
hitherto neglected the study of the Bible and prayer. 
I have had the path of duty pointed out, but I have 
not walked in it. I know that I would better omit 
one meal each day, than not to have time for the 
study of my Bible and for prayer. I have time., but, 
owing to the bustle of company and continually mov- 
ing from one place to another, I have not recently 
searcJied t\iQ Scriptures. O Lord, 'pardon my iniqui- 
ty, for it is great.' 

'' Mo?ida)\igth Sept., 1836. — Walnut Hills has every 
advantage : good health, good water (for the State of 
Ohio), rich land, and a location near Cincinnati, 
where everything brings good prices. People live 
as well here as they do in Virginia, and more happily, 
I doubt not. The girls wash, cook, and do anything 
that is to be done ; nay, I?lack shoes. These things 

3* 



58 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

don't detract from their high mental improvement. 
They have not that affeetation and that want of any 
tangible character which are so often observable. 
There are no slaves, and often no servant of any kind ; 
yet all is neat, and generally rich. The gilt mirror, 
the Brussels carpet, the mahogany sideboard are the 
furniture seen ; and the ladies grace the parlor, the 
library, or the kitchen, as occasion serves. Happy 
people! 

" John H. Kemper's calf, 4 months old, weighs 415 
lbs. James Kemper refused $500 for his bull, 2 yrs. 
old. One yearling and one two-year-old calf of James 
Kemper's sold for $1080. John H. Kemper's Russia 
breed of hogs will weigh 500 lbs. He took 400 bu. 
corn from 4^ acres, four years ago, and thinks he has 
as good a crop this season. Land raises pumpkins 
enough to pay three dollars an acre rent, for wood- 
land and all. 

" Wednesday^ 21st Sept., 1836. — I find that living dis- 
orderly is the very way to live uncomfortably. What- 
ever ought to be done ought to be done well ; and 
however small, it is true philosophy to devote atten- 
tion to it, in proportion to its relative importance. 
I find that when I devote proper attention to my toi- 
let in the morning, I haA^e the satisfaction of feeling 
that something is well done. 

" People at Walnut Hills have very few springs. 
They drink what they call ' cistern water ;' that is, 
rain water drawn from the top of the house and kept 
in a cistern. It is cool, and not unpleasant. The well 
water is not so good as ours." 

" They do not envy us our slaves. David R. Kem- 
per, while shewing me his cistern, said, ' This thing 



LEAVES HOME FOR MISSOURI. 59 

cost me seven dollars, and I would not take that for 
two months' use of it. I would not take a negro for 
it. No, I would not give it for a negro.' " 

" They have tea for dinner, and use preserved to- 
matoes." 

While in Cincinnati he first stopped at the house of 
Samuel D. Kemper, with whose son, Frederick E. H., 
he promised to correspond. 

On Wednesday, September 21, he left Cincinnati 
for Louisville, about 11 o'clock a.m. He took passage 
on the General Pike, a good boat, but w^hich was so 
crowded that the dining-tables and the cabin floor 
were covered with mattresses for the sleepers. At 
2 o'clock A.M. on the next day he reached his des- 
tination, and put up at the Louisville Hotel. 

Here he met his maternal uncle, Mr. John Allison, 
who was living at Richland, near the city. He 
speaks of him as " a real friendly, open-hearted Alli- 
son and Virginian." By him he was introduced to a 
Mr. Nesbit, at whose house, on First Street above 
Walnut, he dined. At his table he met a very agree- 
able old lady, from whom he learned, as one of the 
instances of change of fortune, that the widow of 
William Wirt, the distinguished Attorney-General of 
the United States under more than one administra- 
tion, was reduced to poverty, and was teaching a 
school in Richmond, Va. 

Mr. Nesbit entertained him in an interesting con- 
versation on the facilities for making money in the 
West at that time. Among other things, he told him 
that the aggregate amount of goods sold in Louis- 
ville in one year was about eight millions of dollars; 
that of bagging and bale cord alone, nearly a million 



6o THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

dollars' worth was sold in a year; that " lots at Alton 
on the Ohio (?), which sold a few years since for six 
dollars per foot," would then sell for six hundred 
dollars ; that it was an easy matter for men to make 
money then, by investing their capital in the rapidly 
growing towns and incipient cities of the West. 

At Louisville he met his old friend and teacher, 
William H. Field, Esq., who was then a young lawyer 
there. 

While he was at his uncle John's he wrote several 
pages in his journal on the subject of social conversa- 
tion, from which we give the following : — • 

" I feel rather dissatisfied with my day's work, be- 
cause I have pleased too little in the social circle. I 
feel as if I always made the social hours of those 
with whom I am not intimately acquainted, drag 
heavily. If they do not observe it, I feel a degree of 
embarrassment in their company. If they do not see 
it, they are influenced by my barrenness at conversa- 
tion. We talk, but it is not conversation ; for this 
implies a flow of soul. Conversation is the spirit of 
social intercourse, speech is the effect. This should 
always be the case. But my mind is all the time 
thinking of something else, lamenting my want of 
colloquy, etc. Why is this ? It may be from an in- 
ordinate and proud desire to shine in conversation, 
valuing the praise of man too highly, uneasiness be- 
cause I cannot shine as others. Look at that lady. 
Her company is courted. She is pleasant and agree- 
able ; and yet half she says is nonsense. Can I not 
do as well .? Yes, I can be as agreeable, and speak 
truth and good sense in a good humor. If you pre- 
pare a few subjects, upon which to converse and 



J 



LEAVES HOME FOR MISSOURI. 6i 

make it a business to lug them in, it will look stiff 
and unnatural, and you will not enjoy the talk, nor 
will your company. You should be able to converse 
upon every subject. But this is not the most impor- 
tant thing, for they often please best who know least. 
The solution is, to be free and easy ; let your mind 
be untrammeled, so much so that you can keep 
silence without feeling abashed for it." 

Sunday, September 25, was a very pleasant day to 
him. He went with his uncle Johm and family to 
hear an Episcopal minister, the Rev. Mr. Page. He 
was delighted with the sermon, which he characterizes 
as " a very argumentative, reasonable, plain, terse, 
practical, pious discourse," from Luke 13 134. He 
writes in his journal: ''There is nothing," said he, 
" so simple as the religion of Christ. It is to feel that 
you are spiritually naked, and miserable, and blind, 
and wretched, and to put your confidence in the 
mercy of God in Christ, in his atoning sacrifice. 
When he was telling the ' way,' I was musing, and the 
fire burned. 1 felt that it was the way for me. I 
hated sin. I had an unction, and knew all things. 
Several Scripture principles were brought to my 
mind, while I was, as I hope, under the guidance of 
that ' spirit of truth,' whose office it is to lead men 
into all truth." 

On Tuesday, September 27th, before breakfast, his 
brother William, who had come down the Ohio on a 
boat, rode up to their uncle John's. As their cousin, 
William McCoy, was waiting in Louisville for a boat 
to carry him to St. Louis, they concluded to take pas- 
sage with him. Accordingly at noon of this same 
day they boarded the Clinton for St. Louis ; when. 



62 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

to their dismay, William became aware that he had 
left his money in his berth on the General Brown, 
Fortunately, however, it had not been stolen. They 
made the trip to St. Louis without any recorded in- 
cident or accident ; and Sunday, October 2, finds 
them on the steamer Quincy, bound for Marion City, 
Missouri. This was their landing in Marion County, 
nearest to Palmyra, the county-seat, their next objec- 
tive point They landed the same day, and on the 
next day, Monday, walked to Palmyra. On Wednes- 
day, he walked to Marion City and back to Palmy- 
ra to dinner. In the afternoon he went to Marion 
College, and he and William were settled as students 
of that institution, of which we shall give some ac- 
count in the succeeding chapter. 

It had required six weeks to make the trip from his 
home in Virginia, a large part of which, however, had 
been passed in the agreeable society of his kindred at 
Cincinnati and Louisville. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MARION COLLEGE. 

" At my nativity, 
The front of heaven w^as full of fiery shapes, 
Of burning cressets ; and at my birth, 
The frame and huge foundation of the earth 
Shaked like a coward." Shakspeare, 

The Presbyterian Church in Missouri has been un- 
fortunate in the most of its college enterprises. 
While it has always been one of the glories of this 
church that it has been the steadfast friend of educa- 
tion, and has conducted its schools not only with abil- 
ity but also with success, yet it is true that there are 
in Missouri the graves of no less than three Presby- 
terian colleges — the City University in St. Louis, 
Richmond College in Ray County, and Marion Col- 
lege near Palmyra. This last was the first and most 
magnificent failure of them all. As it is an interest- 
ing story in itself, and as the college was the alma 
mater of our Mr. Kemper, we shall devote this chap- 
ter to an extended account of it, taken from the cat- 
alogue of 1835-36. 

'•' The reputed richness of the soil of Marion Coun- 
ty, about nine years since, turned the tide of. immi- 
gration, previously setting toward the western side 
of the State of Missouri and the Boonslick Country, 



64 T}7E LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

to the north. In two or three years the county had 
acquired a respectable population. Palmyra, the 
seat of justice, had become one of the most thriving 
villages of the State, and the prairie west of that 
town, in which the college is situated, contained a 
dense settlement. The inhabitants were principally 
from Kentucky. 

" A few of the residents of the prairie, west of Pal- 
myra, Marion County, applied to the legislature, in 
the winter of 1830-31, for a charter locating a college 
in their midst. An ample charter was obtained, 
eleven acres of land were given for the site, and a 
log school-house was erected. Tiie Rev. David Nel- 
son, M.D., became at once bo\h the presiding officer, 
called for by the charter, and the teacher of the 
school. 

" About this time it was determined to endow the 
institution with the land unoccupied around the build- 
ing, and depend on its internal wealth and t\\Q physical 
strength of the students in bringing it forth, for its 
support. 

"At this time the views of the friends of the col- 
lege were very limited. A few thousand dollars, it 
was supposed, would be sufficient to purchase the 
necessary quantity of land, erect some plain dormi- 
tories for students ; while, from the benevolent it was 
hoped that the necessary library and philosophical ap- 
paratus could be procured. The principal aid was 
expected from citizens of Missouri. In this home 
agency Dr. Nelson was employed, while the Rev. 
Cyrus Nichols was commissioned to travel east and 
lay the wants of the institution before the benevolent. 
These agencies, however, resulted in procuring a 



MARION COLLEGE. 65 

very small sum. A number of log cottages were 
erected and a small building for recitation rooms. 

"Another effort was now made,' and, through the 
agency of Dr. Nelson, a promise was obtained from 
the General Assembly's Board of Education (of the 
church) of ten thousand dollars, with which to pur- 
chase the necessary land. A misunderstanding arose 
between the agents of the trustees and the Education 
Board, growing out of the character of certain land 
purchased ; in consequence of which the original 
agreement was annulled, and the whole purchase be- 
came the property of the Assembly's board. 

" Disappointed in their anticipated aid from the 
benevolent, and at the saQie time aware that the re- 
luctance did not proceed from indifference to the proj- 
ect, but from the incredulity of the public mind as 
to the practicability of their self-supporting scheme, 
the only remedy appeared to be in borrowing the 
funds necessary to make the experiment- As a body 
corporate the trustees held no property to any amount, 
and consequently individual private estate must be 
pledged to effect a loan. Three of the trustees, whose 
labors had already been the most abundant, and 
whose confidence in the practicability of the plan re- 
mained unshaken — the Rev. David Nelson, Dr. David 
Clark, and William Muldrow — in April, 1833, bor- 
rowed in the city of New York, on their own respon- 
sibility, by mortgaging their property, $20,000 for 
ten years, at seven per cent interest. A condition 
of this loan was, that not less than four thousand 
acres of land should be purchased in one body. With 
this money 470 acres only were secured in the vicinity 
of the college. For the body of land required by the 



66 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

agreement, that it might be obtained at the govern- 
ment price, it was necessary to go a distance of four- 
teen mil€S, where, in the midst of a beautiful and well- 
watered prairie, 4019 acres were purchased. For the 
purpose of securing timber and coal for fuel, it was 
subsequently deemed expedient to purchase of indi- 
viduals, at a higher price, 480 acres additional. 

"The individuals above mentioned organized them- 
selves into an association, by the title of the ' Educa- 
tion Company of the West,' and having, for the sake 
of counsel, increased their number to seven, proceed- 
ed to carry out the details of their plan. Accommoda- 
tions for students were increased to one hundred ; a 
boarding-house and farm-house were erected, and the 
small tract put under cultivation ; while arrange- 
ments were made to erect accommodations for an 
equal number of students on the large tract, and to 
bring it under cultivation with the least possible 
delay. As soon as funds, other than those borrowed 
by the gentlemen above named, began to be used in 
the improvement of the farms, they, by a deed dated 
in October last, conveyed the title to the whole prop- 
erty to the Trustees of Marion College, in trust, for 
education purposes, securing only the right to direct 
the execution of the details of their plan, 

" The method of support at this time proposed was 
to furnish each student, fifteen years of age, with 
twenty acres of land, which was to be cultivated by 
employing equal portions for the production of corn, 
oats, wheat, and timothy grass. Half of the product 
was his own, while the other half went to defray the 
expenses of the farm. He was to pay $50 per annum 
for his board, and $30 tuition. A confidence in the 



MARION COLLEGE.. 67 

success of the enterprise now began to be felt, and a 
gradual accession of students commenced, which it 
was subsequently necessary to check for want of 
room. 

" Recourse was had to the appointment of numer- 
ous traveling agents, in order to obtain the funds 
needed to put the land into a state of cultivation, 
and meet the expectations of the public. Though 
many of these agencies were voluntary, others were 
entered into at a salary, and resulted in bringing the 
institution in debt. It will not be a little surprising 
to many to learn that, up to the first of November, 
. 1834, less than $6,000 had been received as donations 
by the trustees and Education Company. 

" During the last winter the three members of the 
board of trustees before alluded to visited the East 
for the purpose of conferring with the prominent 
friends of education in relation to their plans, and 
more perfectly enlisting the benevolent in the cause 
of the institution. This visit resulted in securing a 
large number of warm friends, by whose counsel it 
was determined to enlarge the plan, and connect 
with the college a theological school. Accordingly, 
at a meeting of the trustees, held the nth day of 
May last, \i.e.^ 1835] the fundamental regulations of the 
Theological Seminary were adopted, and three pro- 
fessors and an assistant teacher chosen. Previously 
to this, the Rev. William S. Polts, of St. Louis, hav- 
ing signified his acceptance of the presidency of the 
institution, in August last, the regulations of the 
literary department were adopted, the college fac- 
ulty organized, and classes regularly formed. At 
the same meeting of the board, the Rev. D. Nelson, 



6S THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Dr. Clark, and W. Muldrow, having stated that the 
funds to pay the New York loan had been received, 
tendered a surrender of the direction of the trust 
estate of the corporation, which was accepted by the 
board, and the necessary writings ordered to be pre- 
pared. By this act the existence of the ' Education 
Company of the West ' ceases, and the whole respon- 
sibility and control of the property rests with the 
corporation, 

''The smaller tract of land will be occupied by the 
classes constituting the college proper. On this, 
buildings will be erected for the accommodation of 
the president, professors, and students, a boarding- 
house, and a house for the steward and farmer. The 
president's house and a new boarding-house are now 
under contract, and will be finished as speedily as 
possible. 

" Upon one division of the larger tract is the pre- 
paratory department, where accommodations for one 
hundred students, it is hoped, will be completed this 
fall ; comprising dormitories, a recitation house, a 
boarding-house, and residence for the steward and 
farmer, who superintends the labor of the students 
in this department. 

" In the centre of this tract will be the buildings 
necessaryfortheaccommodation of the professors and 
students of the Theological Seminary, and the farmer 
having the supervision of their labor. It is also the 
purpose of the trustees, should circumstances war- 
rant it, to connect Law and Medical schools, under 
competent teachers, with the plan. A Female Semi- 
nary of a high order will also be located in the vi- 
cinity. 



MARION COLLEGE. 69 

'' The plan at present proposed for the support of 
the professors and students is as follows : The presi- 
dent and each of the professors in the Theological 
School is to receive the net income of five hundred 
acres of college land, fifty of which is to be cultivat- 
ed in grain and vegetables, and the remainder in 
timothy grass. Each of the professors in the literary 
department and the principal of the preparatory 
school is to have the net income of three hundred 
acres, thirty of which are to be cultivated as a garden, 
and the remainder in timothy. Each student will be 
expected to cultivate one acre of this land as a gar- 
den, and harvest nine acres of timothy. The garden 
land will always lie in the immediate vicinity of the 
student's dormitory, and the corner stake of his acre 
will be marked with the number of his room. This 
will be worked principally by hand, and in the hours 
assigned for labor in term time. The timothy will 
demand his attention only in harvesting and prepar- 
ing the hay for market, which will occur during vaca- 
tion. The timothy land will lie some distance from 
the college, and the students will encamp upon the 
meadow, and continue there until the whole work of 
cutting, curing and baling is completed. The hay 
will be cut by a horse-power machine, and baled by 
a power press. 

^' The products of the land of each professorship 
will be divided, one third to the professor and two 
thirds to the student cultivating it. By this plan, five 
hundred acres of land are to support one professor 
in the theological department and fifty students; and 
three hundred acres support a professor in the liter- 
ary department and thirty students. The garden- 



70 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

land, after supplying the grain and vegetables neces- 
sary for the consumption of the boarding-houses, will 
be used for such crops as the state of the market may, 
from time to time, dictate as most profitable. The 
hay will be received by a trading-house at the Mis- 
sissippi River, established for the purpose, at the 
fair market price, and by them shipped to the New 
Orleans market. The tuition fees will go into the 
treasury of the institution, to be used in keeping up 
repairs, paying salaries not otherwise provided for, 
and incidental expenses. One acre of land in the 
vicinity of the college, cultivated in onions, peas, 
beans, or hops, it is believed from experiments made, 
will yield to the student more than a sufficiency to 
pay his board. The hay market, extending from 
the mouth of the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico, and 
even to the West Indies, is too extensive ever to be 
glutted, and the price scarcely ever falls below $20 
per ton (the last season it has brought $40). The 
price of freight will not exceed five dollars per ton, 
giving from ten to fifteen dollars as the fair market 
value of hay delivered upon the bank of the river in 
Marion County. The land owned by the college, it 
is estimated by farmers best acquainted with its ca- 
pabilities will cut two tons to the acre. From these 
estimates it will be easy for any one to demonstrate 
the entire practicability of the self-supporting sys- 
tem proposed by the board of trustees." 

So much from the history of the founding of the 
college, as given in the catalogue. Taking the es- 
timates given as reliable, it would seem that the entire 
practicability of the self-supporting system was dem- 
onstrated. 



MARION COLLEGE. 71 

For each student the yield would be : — 

6 acres of hay, 12 tons at ^10 $120 

Garden crop of onions, enough for board. 50 

Total for each student $170 

For the president and each theological professor : 

150 acres of hay, 300 tons at $ro feooo 

Garden crop of 50 students, \ 1250 

Total for each. .... $4250 

For each college professor : — 

90 acres of hay, 180 tons, at %\o $1800 

Garden crop of '30 students, -g- 750 

Total $2550 

These sums would seem to have been ample to 
sustain pupils and teachers well in those early days. 
But who can suppress a smile as he reads this plan, 
with all of its details ? The morus multicaulis craze or 
the South Sea scheme were hardly more wild and 
chimerical. Doubtless to the infatuated imagination 
of Col. Muldrow and Dr. Ely, it was as beautiful as 
any bubble that ever polarized the light of the sun. 
But to the common-sense judgment of practical men 
it was as sure to burst, as burst it did, in less than 
ten years. A grand university, with college, and 
theological, law, medical, and female schools attached, 
to be supported by five thousand acres of raw land in 
the wilds of the West! The different departments 
fourteen miles apart; and the students to sustain it, 
in their leisure moments, by raising onions and cutting 
timothy hay ! Surely, as Dr. Rob^ert Breckinridge 
once remarked, Presbyterians, in some things, seem 
to be the Lord's silly sheep. Yet this enterprise had 



72 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

connected with it, as we shall see, some of the grand- 
est men that ever trod the soil of Missouri, or labored 
for the salvation of souls within its borders — Nelson, 
Potts, Ely, and Gallaher. 

We shall now, from the information contained in 
the catalogue, set forth the course of study, plan of 
government, and other interesting facts concerning 
the college, at the time when Mr. Kemper first en- 
tered it as a pupil. 

The course of study was arranged upon the ordina- 
ry plan of the graded curriculum. An examination 
in all previous studies was necessary for admission 
to any of the college classes. In the freshman year 
the studies were : ^neid, Livy, Latin Composition, 
Ancient Geography, Roman and Greek Antiquities, 
Cyropgedia, Graeca Majora, Algebra, Declamation, 
and the Bible. In the sophhomore : Bucolics and 
Georgics, Cicero's Select Orations, Horace, Iliad, 
Graeca Majora (Oratorical and Philosophical), Geom- 
etry, Composition, Declamation, Reading, and the 
Bible. In the junior : Cicero de Oratore, Juvenal, 
Critical, Miscellaneous, and Epic extracts of the 
Graeca Majora, Longinus, Greek Testament, Hebrew 
(optional), Trigonometry, Conic Sections, application 
of Algebra to Geometry and Trigonometry, Rhetoric, 
Elements of Criticism, Evidences of Christianity, 
Political Economy, Original Speeches, Composition, 
and the Bible, In the senior : Tacitus, Cicero de 
Amicitia and de Senectute, Graeca Majora, Hebrew, 
German, and French (these three optional). Mental 
nnd Moral Philosophy, Natural Philosophy, Astron- 
omy, Chemistry, Geology and Mineralogy, Original 
Speeches, Composition, and the Bible. 



MARION COLLEGE. 73 

This seems quite a full course of study, especially in 
the Latin, where Caesar and Sallust were read in the 
preparatory department. In the mental sciences we 
observe the absence of Natural Theology and Logic. 
It is noticeable that the natural sciences are post- 
poned until the senior year. But the most impor- 
tant criticism to be made is, that, for the average 
student, such'a long list of studies was impracticable. 
The catalogue says upon this point : " The course 
here laid down is simple and practicable, and each 
student will be required to master it fairly." We 
may place ourself outside of the current of opinion 
among teachers, but we venture to say that it was 
and is a rare mind which could or can master the 
above course within the limit of four years. It is our 
belief that this is one of the practical mistakes made 
by our popu4ar schools of to-day. In the attempt to 
do too much, nothing is really and fully done. In 
the senior year of the above course, there are no less 
than ten different books, embracing nine distinct 
branches to be pursued and completed. This omits 
Hebrew, French, German, and the Bible. Seven of 
these branches are confined to this year. Now we 
declare it as our judgment, that, for nine tenths of 
our young people, it is impracticable to master the 
elements of Mental, Moral, and Natural Philosophy, 
Astronomy, Chemistry, Geology, and Mineralogy, 
and complete a course of Latin and Greek, within 
the space of nine calendar months. For the remain- 
ing tenth it may be practicable, but for them it is 
unwise. 

While the course thus prescribed was necessary for 
the regular college degree, it was provided that ir- 
4 



74 THE LIFE OF PROF, KEMPER. 

regular students e^hould receive '^ at the end of their 
course certificates from the professors they have at- 
tended." We do not approve of the graded plan, 
which ordinarily obtains in our colleges and high 
schools. We believe it to be unnatural, and impos- 
sible of execution, except at the expense of the best 
results in three fourths of our students. In Marion 
College certificates were granted the irregular stu- 
dents by those professors on whom they attended. 
Why may not this be done by every college working 
under the graded system 1 It surely may, and ought 
to be. Here is a young man, who goes to our State 
University to study languages. He has special capa- 
bilities in that direction, and the university has excel- 
lent teachers to instruct him. Why, then, should he, 
after having studied Latin, Greek, French, German, 
Hebrew, and Anglo-Saxon triumphantly, tee dismissed 
without any testimonial of his success "^ He does not 
merit A B , but he. ought to be pronounced a grad- 
uate in languages, and have a diploma to attest the 
fact. 

As to the "rules for the internal government of 
Marion College," there are some points of interest. 
One of the distinctive features of its plan was, as we 
have already seen, self-support and the maintenance 
of the professors by the manual labor of the students. 
We are therefore not surprised to see among the 
rules, that each student would " be required \.o\?Coov.,'' 
in the cultivation of ten acres of land, " three hours 
per day." In case of bodily infirmity, it is provided 
that he might be excused from this. Although this 
was a fundamental principle in the organization of 
the college, we know that it was not enforced, and 



MARION COLLEGE. 75 

the whole thing was doubtless entirely optional. If 
a student preferred to pay, he did so ; if he preferred 
to work, he did so. As a matter of fact, Mr. Kemper 
often said that the only manual labor upon the col- 
lege land which he performed, during his stay of five 
years, was to help a fellow-student one morning to 
dig his potatoes. 

As to religious exercises, a blessing was asked at 
the table before, and thanks were returned after, eat- 
ing. Morning and evening prayers were held in the 
chapel daily. Divine worship was conducted every 
Sabbath morning at ii o'clock, and a Bible-class re- 
cited in the afternoon at 3 o'clock. All the students 
were required to attend upon these several services. 

An interesting and rather peculiar feature of the 
college government was the use made of monitors, 
selected from the students. There was a monitor 
for each class, taken in alphabetical order, and serv- 
ing each one week. He kept the class roll, marked 
absentees from the various recitations and religious 
services, and reported to the professor conducting 
prayers on Saturday evening. 

The students did their studying in their bedrooms. 
" All romping, wrestling, scuffling, vulgar familiari- 
ties, noise, whooping, swearing, playing with cards, 
dice, checkers, chess, or any other game," were " abso- 
lutely forbidden." No student was allowed to use, 
have in his possession, or bring upon the college 
grounds any intoxicating liquor, or to keep or use fire- 
arms on the college premises. The punishments pre- 
scribed were admonition, private and public, rustica- 
tion, and expulsion. There was quite an unusual 
arrangement of the terms and vacations. There were 



70 THE LIFE OF PROF, KEMPER. 

three vacations, the chief one commencing the Last 
Thursday in June and continuing eight weeks, a re- 
cess of two weeks from the first Monday in October, 
and one of two weeks from the first Monday in April. 
Board was fifty dollars per annum, or one and one 
fourth dollars per week. That seems cheap, when hay 
was worth a minimum of $20 per ton, and '' one acre 
of land in onions, peas, beans, or hops would yield to 
the student more than a sufficiency to pay his board." 
Tuition was I20 per annum. 

The trustees of the college were : Rev. William S. 
Potts, Rev. David Nelson, M.D., David Clark, M.D., 
J. A. Minter, Joseph Lafon, M.D , Colonel William 
Muldrow,* James Spear, Samuel Sloane, M.D., Rev. 
Cyrus Nichols, Theodore Jones, Esq., Henry Dunn, 
James Porter, Major Henry Willis, John Dunn, Thom- 
as L. Anderson, Esq., Jeter Hicks, and Rev. William 
P. Cochran. 

The faculty of the literary department consisted of 
Rev. William S. Potts, president, w^hose memory is 
blessedly fragrant to tlie hearts of the older Presby- 
terians of Missouri; Rev. Job F. Halsey, teacher of 
mental and moral philosophy ; Rev. Samuel C. Mc- 
Connell, teacher of natural philosophy and mathe- 
matics ; John Roche, A.M., teacher of Latin and 
Greek ; Samuel Barschall, teacher of Hebrew, Ger- 

* This Colonel William Muldrow is said to be the original of 
Mark Twain's Colonel Mulberry Sellers. He could have sat for the 
portrait. As we have seen, he was one of the founders of the col- 
lege, and the originator doubtless of its scheme of endowment. 
It IS said that a gentleman by the name of Hutchison actually 
called one of his own sons, " Onward Opposition to Bill Muldrow 
and Marion College Hutchison." 



MARION COLLEGE. 77 

man, and French ; Rev. Allen Gallaher, principal of 
preparatory school. 

The theological teachers were Rev. Job F. Hal- 
sey, professor of pastoral theology ; Rev, James Gal- 
laher (the author of " The Western Sketch Book" 
and of "The Pilgrimage of Adam and David,'' and 
one of the most noted preachers of his day in the 
West), professor of didactic theology and sacred 
eloquence ; Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, D.D. (the Eastern 
Coryphaeus, who came West to be one of the lead- 
ing spirits in this, to be, magnificent university), 
professor of polemic theology, biblical literature, 
and sacred criticism ; and Rev. Charles W. Nassau 
(for many years afterward the accomplished head of 
a female school at Lawrenceville, near Princeton, 
New Jersey), assistant teacher of the original lan- 
guages of the Sacred Scriptures. 

It strikes us as strange that Dr. Nelson, the au- 
thor of " The Cause and Cure of Infidelity," and one 
of the really strong men of his time, did not belong 
to the faculty at this date. He was the original found- 
er and president of the institution. That he was not 
continued as a teacher is doubtless due to the fact, 
stated in some of Mr. Kemper's papers, that, with all 
his splendid talents as a preacher and writer, he was 
not fitted for the school-room. 

The catalogue of students for this year, 1835-36, 
furnishes some interesting items. There were three 
seniors, who, we may presume, were graduated. 
There were none in the junior class. There were 
seven sophomores. There were ten freshmen, among 
whom we are interested to see H. A. Nelson, A. L. 
Slayback, and Sheppard Wells. There were sixty 



78 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

in the preparatory department. There is no list of 
theological students, and this fact probably indi- 
cates that this department was not opened until the 
fall of 1836. 

It will interest and surprise many to learn that, of 
these eighty students enrolled in this infant college 
on the west side of the Mississippi in the year 1835-36, 
only sixteen were from the county in which it was 
located; only twenty-eight from Missouri altogether; 
while Maryland, Connecticut, and Illinois furnished 
one each ; Louisiana, two ; Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
Massachusetts, three each ; Virginia and Ohio, six 
each; and Pennsylvania and New York, no less than 
thirteen apiece. At least one half of the students 
came, in those days of slow travel, from a distance of 
not less than one thousand miles. The old States of 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, and Virginia, six of the original 
thirteen, sent thirty-seven students to this college, 
not yet out of its swaddling-clothes, whose buildings 
were of logs, and whose support was dependent upon 
the hay and vegetables produced by its pupils. It 
is not probable that the annals of education, even 
in this wonderland of ours, can furnish a parallel to 
this. We cease to think it strange that our Mr. 
Kemper and his brother William joined this eastern 
caravan of youthful pilgrims seeking for knowl- 
edge as it flowed from the Pierian spring in Marion 
County, Missouri. But we do wonder that Iowa 
sent not a single student, and Illinois but one, while 
New York and Pennsylvania, with three broad States 
intervening, furnished almost as many as Missouri 
itself. 



CHAPTER V. 

LIFE AT MARION COLLEGE. 

" Giv^e me 
Leave to enjoy myself. That place that does 
Contain my books, the best companions, is 
To me a glorious court, where hourly I 
Converse with the old sages and philosophers." 

Fletcher. 

As we have seen, the Marion College premises em- 
braced two tracts of land. The smaller contained 
four hundred and seventy acres ; wsls in the vicinity 
of the point originally selected for the location of the 
college ; was about twelve miles west from Palmyra; 
and had for its post-office, West Ely. The larger 
tract, subsequently purchased, contained about forty- 
five hundred acres ; was six miles south of Palmyra, 
and twelve miles west from Hannibal. The former 
was known as'^ Upper College," and was the seat of 
the college proper. The latter was styled " Lower 
College," where the theological seminary and pre- 
paratory department were located. 

Mr. Kemper was not- prepared to enter the fresh- 
man class of the college, but spent the first two years 
of his sojourn here in the preparatory classes. He 
remained a student of the college five years, with one 
interval of about eight months, graduating with the 



8o THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

class of 1841. We have the benefit of his journal for 
less than two years of this period. There is a gap 
from July, 1S38, to 1849. ^^ is almost certain that he 
kept a record of these years, but it has been mislaid, 
probably has perished. We are quite thankful for 
the journal of the early months of his stay at Marion, 
as it reveals to us much of his character and spiritual 
history during this period. We shall be tempted to 
make liberal extracts, as almost every page is replete 
with interest. 

" Sunday^ October 9^ 1836. — To-day heard Dr. Ely 
preach from ' This is a faithful saying,' etc. I hope 
the Lord blessed me, though evil and unthankful. 
I came back to my room and uttered the feelings of 
my heart in Doddridge's ' God of my life,' etc. I hope 
that the Lord is leading me, the chief of sinners, to 
some establishment in the divine life. I feel as if I 
wanted to ' get away ' from sin. 

" Tuesday^ October 11. — I have to-day recited the 
three declensions of Greek nouns to Mr. Marks [the 
Rev. J. J. Marks, D.D., now of Springfield, Mo.]. 
He seemed to be quite pleased with my recitation. 
I have accomplished very little yesterday and to-day. 
Why is it ? I rise too late. I do not observe regu- 
larity in my times for exercise and relaxation.- I 
eat too much. I am getting too familiar with some 
of the students, and visit too long, I have not com- 
menced the days by fervency of prayer and dedica- 
tion to God. I have done minor business in the best 
study hours. Let me to-morrow avoid these sins, 
and see the effect on the day's study. Lord, inspire 
me with diligence in business and fervency of spirit. 
Let me rise and be at my Greek grammar by the 



LIFE AT MARION COLLEGE, 8i 

time I can first see to read it. Let me exercise and 
relax after breakfast. Let me keep at home. Let 
me commence the day with God. Let me practice 
my golden rule for diet, eat as much as will support 
the system in the best way, and best prepare it for 
the day's work. We never regret having eaten too 
little, was Jefferson's maxim. 

"^ Wednesday^ Octobei' i3. — To-morrow want to com- 
mit adjectives and pronouns in Greek grammar, if 
possible. Begin long before day, if I can get up. 
Have regular devotions. I have always felt most fit 
for the duties of this life when I have felt best pre- 
pared to leave it. Bene orasse, etc. Eat little. Go 
into no one's house unless absolutely necessary. 

'' Wednesday, October 26. — Commenced reading the 
fifth book of Caesar last Friday. I am further ad- 
vanced in Latin than this, having read Caesar and 
Virgil before. My object is to read them over again 
simultaneously with my Greek studies. I want to be 
perfect in the classics. 

^^ Monday, November "]. — This evening T attended 
monthly concert. I hope the Lord was there, and, in 
a measure, scattered the thick clouds of doubt and 
hesitation which have hung over my head this after- 
noon. I felt more for the cause of missions than I 
ever did before, I think. Felt ready to make any 
sacrifice for my divine Master. I hope I felt so. 
Spent good part of the afternoon in digesting some 
maxims and regulations for my conduct. 

*' Wednesday, November 9. — When at public prayers 
this morning, Mr. Marks reiterated the importance 
of improving every moment, and prayed against 
slothfulness and procrastination, I felt guilty. Yester- 

4* 



82 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

day I did not do a full day's work. My excuse was, 
that I was weak and feeble from loss of sleep. I 
suppose it will take me six months' effort to acquire 
the habit of doing with little sleep. I eat too much 
to sleep little. I resolved, for the next six months, 
to live on vegetable food and acquire this habit also. 
But let me think before I adopt this habit. My 
plans are adopted too hastily, and I don't enter 
them from established principles, and thus I am 
liable to be defeated. At any rate, T will do without 
animal food until I shall have thought more about 
the six months' time. 

"When a question of duty arises, I must say, 
' Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do"^' and in a sub- 
missive, childlike spirit, go and do it. If I am not 
willing to do what is my duty, I am no Christian. 
' If a man hate not his own life, he cannot be My 
disciple.' 

" This evening Mr. Park invited me to attend a 
private meeting next Tuesday night, the object of 
which is to promote a revival of vital religion. 

^'■Friday, November ii. — This evening feel that 
Mr. Park was right. Nothing so simple as the cross 
of Christ. ' Come, let us all serve the Lord,' was 
my feeling. 

" Tuesday^ November 15. — To-day read first lesson 
in the Greek Reader, and second lesson in Sallust. 

^'Friday, Nov. 18. — Teachers' meeting at night. 
To-day have been vexing myself to know whether I 
would be willing to do this or that, if Christ should 
wish me to do so. This is vain. I hope I am willing 
to do every duty, when it is made plain. I hope I 
can, calmlv and through choice, do every duty, one 



LIFE A T MARION COLLEGE. \ Z^ 

after another as they come up. This alone is my 
business. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 
God will bless me in this. 

" Sunday^ Nov. 20. — I hope I enjoy the calm retire- 
ment of the Sabbath. I feel as if my ' Sabbath days 
can never be too long.' During the past week I have 
attended the meeting for the promotion of a revival 
here. I attended the teachers' meeting on Thursday 
night, the debating society on Friday night." 

It is manifest from these entries that he taught in 
the preparatory department the first year of his stay 
at Marion College. 

" I hope I have entered upon the plan of eating 
slowly, and only enough to support nature in the 
best discharge of all her functions. The advantages 
I find are unspeakable. 

"The faults of the week : i. Want of regularity 
in hours of retiring, which makes me lose a good 
part of the morning, and unfits my soul for spiritual 
enjoyment, and my body for easy, cheerful discharge 
of its functions. 2. Carelessly wasting monients in 
the company of students. 3. Devotigns neglected or 
partially attended to. 4. Praying without the un- 
derstanding; not thinking upon the holiness and 
greatness of God before adoration, for instance. 5. 
Not cultivating benignity of spirit and cheerfulness 
of countenance and expression. 

" Thursday^ Nov. 24. — From loss of sleep I did not 
rise this morning till the last horn for prayers. Had 
not time then to prepare my lessons for recitation, 
and did not know them ' exactly,' as Dr. Beecher 
says. These lessons will take almost as long to re- 
view them critically as to learn them at first. 



84 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" If I neglect one duty to attend to another, instead 
of furthering my plans for usefulness, I fail in the 
very duty for which I sacrificed the other. ' Con- 
jurat amice. ' There must be harmony. Order is 
heaven's first law. An interesting teachers' meet- 
ing to-night. 

" Thursday^ Dec. i. — Have enjoyed more real pleas- 
ure this morning in reading and meditating upon 
Lord Chesterfield's rules for the improvement of time, 
etc., than I ever could have done in sensual enjoy- 
ment. Although they are his, they are good in- 
deed. 

^'- Sunday^ Dec. 4. — I agreed to open the remarks at 
the next conference, because I made a remark in 
conference this evening ; which remark made me 
feel more on the Lord's side than if I had neglected 
it. I am convinced that, having professed to be a 
Christian, I should shrink from none of the duties of 
a Christian, but perform them fully. 

'' Monday, Dec. 19. — Commenced boarding ourselves 
last Thursday. Live mostly on mush, bread, and 
molasses. Like it much. With the exception of 
Thursday, I have breakfasted ever since on bread 
and water. 

'-''Monday, Dec. 26. — I believe that daily self-ex- 
amination is indispensable to correct habits and my 
religious walk. I sometimes am persuaded by lazi- 
ness that it is not my imperious duty. Everything 
is my imperious duty which helps me in making the 
most of myself." 

'"'- Sunday, Jan. i, 1837. — Glorious indications of a 
revival of religion. Last night some of the pious 
students held a 'watch-meeting,' at which several 



LIFE AT MARION COLLEGE. §5 

persons came out and expressed an anxiety for the 
prayers of God's people. 

" Tuesday, Jan. 34. — Studying Greek Reader, Sal- 
Just, Worcester's History, restudying Latin Gram- 
mar, and expect soon to restudy Greek Grammar. 

"'Feb. I, 1837, — I feel a considerable anxiety this 
morning lest I should not improve this month to the 
utmost. I never have improved my time wisely. 
God be merciful to me, a sinner. 

" Man's wisdom is to seek 
His strength in God alone ; 
And e'en an angel would be weak 
That trusted in his own !" 

*• Thursday, Feb. 9.— Attended a prayer-meeting to- 
night in Park's room. I was requested to lead it, and 
did so ; the first time I ever led, I believe. I have 
always been deterred from activity in the cause of 
Gody from motives of uBworlhiness in myself. To- 
night, however, I took the lead cheerfully ; I suppose 
because of some meditations at my devotions. 

''Monday, /^^^. 20.— Last Tuesday I engaged my- 
self as agent for the American Tract Society^ from 
April 15 to October 15, six months. 

" I Avould here notice a remark of Mr. Marks last 
Friday, with respect to self-denial. It is as necessary 
to mental eminence as to spiritual. That man may 
do anything who becomes so much master of him- 
self as to eat and sleep only enough to support na- 
ture. He went on amplifying the thought until my 
aspirations were as large as the round world. Oh 
that I would (for I can) attain such a mastery over 
my passions as to make them complete servants of 
my intellect and conscience. 



86 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

'' Plan for the day: i. Get Pantheon till noon. 
2. Devotions. 3. Exercise one hour. 4. Dine. 5. 
Greek grammar, one and a half hours. 6. History, 
two hours. 7, Recreation, and devotions, and exer- 
cise. 8. Get excited, and conclude speech. 9. Com- 
mit dialosfue. 

"The mastery of myself is my object. Gratia sit 
mihi addenda. 

" Saturday, Feb. 25. — The evidences of the Chris- 
tian religion should have been a prominent object of 
my investigation, and I can give no consistent, log- 
ical reason of the hope that is in me. As a conse- 
quence, I have lived without an abiding sense of 
Christian responsibility. I have been looking to others 
to take the lead in religion, w4ien I should have been 
an example to them. Instead of giving my influence 
fearlessly to the cause of truth, and instead of form- 
ing a model for others, who need it very much, I 
have weakly formed my habits upon their model. 
It must be my object to have a consistent chain of 
argument to support my religious belief. If it can- 
not have this, it must be discarded. I must also be 
more intelligently and devotionally acquainted with 
the contents of the Bible, as well as the evidence of 
its truth as a whole. That man is silly who suffers 
his opinions to outrun his proofs, and his character 
will never stand out boldly useful from the herd of 
mankind. 

^''Sunday., Feb. 26, — I hope I enjoyed to-night's 
sermon. I was reminded in it of several things, of 
which I am too forgetful. Mr, Marks said : ' There is 
no happiness like dying daily. The man of the world 
is the slave of the world.' I also called to mind a re- 



. LIFE A T MARION COLLEGE. 87 

mark of his, on a former occasion, concerning Ed- 
wards, that he resolved there should not be on earth 
a holier man than himself. I hope I feel that all 
hope of being better in the future will fail, unless I 
no%v begin, and now become such as my better judg- 
ment points out. If I do not begin this moment, the 
probability that I shall do it to-morrow is less. Every 
day that I defer being what I ought to be, I increase 
the difficulties of being what I ought to be, and, of 
course, lessen its probability. 

" I regard the maxim of living day by day as es- 
pecially important. An anxious thought about to- 
morrow will lessen present attainments. If I am 
this moment breaking off from all sin and ' learning 
to do well,' it is all that the best nian can do, and is, 
at the same time, the best assurance that I shall do 
well to-morrow. 

'''Monday, Feb. 27. — The subject for spiritual med- 
itation to-day is, entire, universal action for Christ, 
in eating, drinking, wearing. Singleness of eye. I 
am bought with a price. I am not my own. The 
minutest actions of my life must not be done in the 
sight of my own eyes. But I must walk this day by 
faith. The tempted soul who resists is higher in 
moral greatness than the soul that is holy without 
trial. 

" Tuesday, Feb. 28.— I will make the following 
maxims : i. Always feel that you have enough to 
do every day to keep you busy. Do not simply feel 
that you have a great deal to do, and then stand off 
and dread it, but have it on hand. 2. If you see any- 
thing that ought to be done^, never stop to inquire 
whether your motives in doing it would be correct. 



88 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

If you do, you will probably neglect to do what you 
confess ought to be done, and your motives by this 
neglect will be getting no better. On the other hand, 
outward performance of duty will tend to spiritual- 
ize the mind. For instance, I know that I ought to 
be diligent in study, and accomplish a great deal 
every day. But I must not be idle, or cease to labor 
hard, because I fear I am not doing it entirely for 
God's glory. Do your duty in any respect, and you 
will be favorably inclined to all duties. 3. In aim- 
ing to be strictly religious, let it not create an un- 
natural sadness of countenance, or a want of suavity 
and gentleness, or an unnatural demeanor in the per- 
formance of any duties. If you do, there will be a 
reaction, and your supposed sanctity w^ill create dis- 
gust, and you will perhaps fall lower than you were 
before you tried to live above this earth. Wisdom's 
ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are 
peace. 

" Monday^ April 3. — Have been rising late for some 
time past. Am getting too fat. This has contrib- 
uted to it, I think. Rose quite early this morning. 
Wish to acquire that industrious habit which would 
hQ ptmis/iedhy lying late. 

'^ Smiday^ April g.~l desire to record it here that 
the Lord has this evening put it into my heart to 
dedicate myself to him anew. I do hereby reject all 
dependence on myself, and, in gratitude for any dis- 
position I may now have to serve him, I would 
depend on that same influence for future preserva- 
tion. My object is, that I may learn and do the will 
of God. Is it not my privilege to do the will of my 
Father in heaven, and, like Enoch, to have the testi- 



LIFE AT MARION COLLEGE, 89 

mony that I please God, and, like Paul, to keep al- 
ways a conscience void of offence toward God and 
toward men ? All my help is in Thee." 

Shortly after this last date, probably about April 
15, 1837, he entered upon his engagement as colpor- 
teur of the American Tract Society. He continued 
in this arduous, self-denying missionary labor until 
the closing days of February, 1838. It seems an 
humble work for a man of his gifts and abilities for 
higher spheres of Christian effort and usefulness. 
He did not think so, but manifestly entered upon his 
mission with the conviction that it was, at that time, 
the thing which the Lord would have him do. That 
he did not despise it, nor shrink from its self-denials, 
is plainly seen in the fact that he continued in the 
service several months after the originally stipulated 
period for its termination, and after the fall term of 
the colleo:e had commenced. 

There are a few facts, gleaned from his journal, 
which occurred during the period of this agency. 
He mentions visiting Mr. Bowling, Mr. Griffin, Mr. 
William Henry, Mr. Dimmitt, Rev. F. R. Gray, Mr. 
Tyre Haden, Mr. Peter Leonard, Mr. Bond, Mr. 
Fike, and Mr. Fisher. He seems to have been very 
unfavorably impressed by New London, in Ralls 
County, of which he says : '' I suppose it is a Sodom. 
I should judge there are not ten righteous men in 
it." 

He had quite an exciting experience on one occa- 
sion at a religious service. He was allowed to pre- 
sent his cause by the minister, who, however, proved 
after all to be an ignorant, conceited bigot, and vio- 
lently opposed him, on the ground that the Tract 



90 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Society was sectarian ! He remarks that the minis- 
ter's own wife sided with the society, and that the 
opposition did not prevent the sale of books. 

One of the gentlemen with whom he lodged, a 
good man, but manifestly a fanatic, averred and be- 
lieved that, when he was converted, " he saw Jesus, 
and was within six feet of him." 

When he visited Mr. Fike's the last time, he found 
him dying, and remarks : " How solemn did I feel ! 

1 felt that I was in the presence of death, and that 
' the chamber where the good man meets his fate 
is privileged above the common walks of virtuous 
life, quite on the verge of heaven.' 

Amid the bustle and worry of this nomadic life, 
he found time to write in his journal : " Two of my 
errors have been called to mind. First, Asking God 
to give me repentance, when that is the very thing 
w^iich the Spirit is asking me to do, and I am not do- 
ing it." [Yet repentance is the gift of God, and is to 
be sought for in answer to prayer. Acts 5 : 31 ; ii : i8 ; 

2 Timothy 2 : 25.] ^'Second, Expecting to get filled 
with the Spirit during the business and cares of the 
day, when I neglect or slightly perform my morning 
devotions. It is very clear that unless I get baptized 
with the Holy Ghost before business commences, I 
will not be afterward. This error is as unphilo- 
sophical as it is discordant with Bible injunction." 
" John Wesley was always in haste, but never in a 
hurry. ' Hence' says he, ' I never undertake any- 
thing more than I can perform with perfect calmness 
of spirit.' Resolved to go only into that company 
(except to do them good) from which I may get the 
most possible benefit while in it. A companion of 



LIFE AT MARION COLLEGE. 91 

fools sliall be destroyed. He that walketh with wise 
men shall be wise." 

When he resumed his duties as a student, on the 
last day of February, 1838, it seems from his jour- 
nal that he was located at the Upper College ; and 
yet it is even more clear that he was still pursu- 
ing the branches taught in the preparatory depart- 
ment, as he mentions modern geography, Pantheon, 
Greek and Latin grammar as the studies in which he 
is engaged. It is probable that it was found far 
more economical, and in every way expedient to 
bring the more advanced students of the preparatory 
school to the college, in order that they might be 
tauglit by the professors. We know, from a letter in 
our possession, that the Lower College was aban- 
doned altogether at the ensuing fall session. The 
w^onder is that they should ever have attempted to 
carry them on fourteen miles apart. 

Having witnessed an unprofitable discussion be- 
tween his brother and chum, he is led to say, " Re- 
solved never to dispute unless with a view of doing 
my antagonist good, by reclaiming him from error. 
When it is plain that the talk is verging toward 
crimination and recrimination, to desist immediate- 
ly. Also to cease whenever there is no probability 
of gaining my object — that is, refuting a material 
error." 

'^Sunday, April 22, 1838," he w^rites : "I think 
every day how circumspect I will be to-niori'oiv. Just 
as if, to use an expression of President Wayland's, 
a man should be always neglecting his duties, and 
devising how he would do if he lived in the moon. 
I am very much one of these lunatics. Why, if I ever 



92 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

do my duty, it will not be done to-morrow. To- 
morrow is not mine." 

About the first of June he made an engagement to 
deliver the" Comprehensive Commmentary'' to sub- 
scribers at forty-five cents a volume. This work he 
attended to probably during the holidays, and was 
the means, doubtless, of providing him with this valu- 
able thesaurus of criticism upon the Scriptures. It 
became, we know, the basis of all his subsequent 
study of the sacred volume. 

On the 4th of July, 1838, he was made the super- 
intendent of the college Sunday-school, and entered 
upon its duties with a spirit of earnest and humble 
activity. This is a signal proof of the highest esti- 
mate which was placed upon him as an intelligent 
and useful Christian, when he was still but a student 
in the preparatory department. 

We are now about to lose the light of his journal 
for a period of more than ten years. We deeply re- 
gret this, for every reader doubtless agrees that the 
extracts from it form by far the most interesting and 
valuable portions of this volume. We shall give the 
last entry, made July 4th, 1838 : " The Bible com- 
mands me to be above the world ; not to fear the 
world ; to keep my conscience void of offence tow- 
ard God and toward man, though in so doing the 
whole neighborhood should despise me or laugh in 
a chorus. There is a rock that is higher than I, 
which rock is all triLth. Though I cannot compre- 
hend all truth, though I see in part, yet there is no 
error in this rock. If I settle upon any part of'it, I 
have a clue to the rest. Truth is harmonious, with- 
out inconsistency, without disaster. Doing one duty 



LIFE AT MARION COLLEGE. 93 

will aid another. Being humble will help me to be 
self-denying. Though I am in a thorny maze, and 
cannot see all the duties, or the propriety of some 
things which I confess to be duties, yet I will do 
duty. I will do His will, assured that I shall know 
of the doctrine. I will be humble. I know that is 
duty. I know moreover that I cannot err in being 
humble. I am on the rock. I'll swing to it, though 
'earth were from her centre tossed!' (collaterally, I 
shall thus acquire force of character). Yes, I'll be 
humble, even if humility is out of fashion. It is 
delightful to have such an anchor, some lamp, some 
unerring oracle. Such an oracle is the word of 
God." 

From his journal and some letters that have been 
preserved, there are a few additional facts connected 
with his life at Marion College, which may be noted. 
We have^already observed that board was only fifty 
dollars for the entire school-year of forty weeks. 
This seems to us very cheap. Our wonder, however, 
is somewhat lessened when we read of the diet that 
was in vogue at that time. Twice in his journal he 
speaks of boarding himself, and of living on mush, 
bread, and molasses, and on bread and water. 
Thomas Curd Hart writes to William H, Kemper : 
" I am still boarding myself, and shall continue to 
do so. I can study better, and then it is very essen- 
tial that I practice the most rigid economy. I tell 
you what, if I should ever be so fortunate as to get a 
wife, I'll make up for lost time in the way of living. 
I shall call to mind very often the bread and water 
of Marion College. You would always have your 
coffee and eggs, and kick up such a hurrah with 



94 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

your batters, that it was much more expensive for 
you to board yourself than at the boarding-.house." 

We may here say, witli regard to Mr. Kemper's 
younger brother William, that he was thought to 
have excelled his brother Frederick in scholarship, 
and gifts of composition and oratory. He became 
discouraged, however, at the failure of the college 
to help them pay their own way, and went to Ray- 
mond, Hinds County, Mississippi, to teach a private 
school, and died there in less than a year. 

D. J. Garnett writes from Lower College to Mr. 
Kemper at Upper College : " We are living on corn 
bread and water, which costs us something less than 
a shilling a week ; cheap living, but as good as I de- 
sire. For while it affords sufficient nourishment, it 
leaves the mind clearer and in a better condition for 
hard study than richer food. We generally retire at 
lo o'clock and rise at 4 o'clock." His father, in one 
of his letters, refers to the very meagre diet which he 
allowed himself, and is apprehensive of its effects 
upon his health. There are not many students from 
good families now who would be willing to live on 
bread and water in order to secure an education. It is 
certainly a blessing that very few, if any, are compelled 
so to do. It is more than doubtful whether such a 
diet is conducive to either mental or bodily vigor. It is 
a mistake to starve the body in order to feed the mind. 
It was a cruel and most miserable economy which, 
a generation ago, prevailed in our boarding-schools, 
in giving poor and insufficient food to those who 
were expected to study hard. The hungry days of 
one's life are those spent in the school-room ; and na- 
ture demands, for brain as well as brawn, that an 



LIFE AT MARION COLLEGE. 95 

abundance of wholesome and nutritious food should 
then be given and received. It is very probable that 
Mr. Kemper laid the foundation of much suffering, 
which we shall observe in his subsequent life, by the 
partial starvation to which he subjected himself dur- 
ing his college days. An abundance of food and of 
sleep is necessary for a healthy growing brain. 

Another very interesting point, settled during his 
college life, was his choice of a profession. He had 
been put to service as a clerk in a store when he was 
not quite thirteen years of age. In this work he had 
continued at least five years, and for it he had shown 
an unusual aptitude. While he was at Marion a 
tempting offer was made him to go into business as a 
merchant. This, however, he at once and peremp- 
torily declined. It is manifest, from many proofs, 
that it was his expectation, when he left home for 
Marion College, and perhaps for the first three years 
of his stay there, to prepare himself for the Christian 
ministry. His Virginia pastor, the Rev. A. D. Pol- 
lock, D.D., alludes to this fact in several of his letters 
to him, giving him such counsel as would be appro- 
priate in such a case. Moreover, in the letter of in- 
troduction which Dr. P. gave him to Professor's Hal- 
sey and Agnew, he speaks of his seeking admission 
to the college as a passway to usefulness in the min- 
istry. He made the impression that this was his pur- 
pose on his relatives at Walnut Hills, Ohio, as he 
passed through Cincinnati. A letter from his father, 
written not long after his entrance into college, refers 
to such an intention on his part. A letter from his 
Virginia friend, Dr. C. W. Ashby, of Jan. 32, 1839, 
says to him : '' I hope you have not changed your 



96 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

mind in regard to the ministry." His special friend 
and fellow-student, W. T. Davis, in two letters to him, 
written early in 1840, refers in decided terms to 
this expectation, as entertained by both of them. If 
further proof were needed, we have it in one of his 
own manuscripts, which is headed, " Notes of a Ser- 
mon preached at the Camp-ground of New Provi- 
dence Church, August, 1838." These notes are in- 
dorsed as " No. 2, Weak Faith," showing that he had 
prepared a sketch of a sermon once before. TJie 
text was Rom. 14: i, and the notes are such as any 
preacher might profitably use. Had he carried out this 
intention, he would have made a learned and eloquent 
preacher and a devoted, faithful, pious pastor. 

In the year 1840 he had changed his mind and 
turned his thoughts toward the law. We have the 
evidence of one letter, written in 1837, that so early 
as this he was wavering, hesitating between the law 
and the ministry. But April 26, 1840, in a letter from 
his father to his brother William, it is said, ''Fred- 
erick writes that he intends to turn his attention to 
the law." As appears from the context, this was not 
in accordance with iiis father's judgment, and was, 
perhaps for that reason, abandoned. It is doubtful 
whether he would have suited this profession. If he 
had entered it, he would have been better adapted to 
the judicial gravity and research of the bench than to 
the contentions of the bar. 

Having given up both of these, he finally and fully 
decided upon making teaching the profession of his 
life. 

In the year 1839 Dr. Potts resigned the presiden- 
c}', and was succeeded by the Rev. Hiram P. Good- 



LIFE A T MARION COLLEGE. 97 

rich, D.D. The institution was doubtless like a ship 
in the midst of breakers during the whole period 
of its history. The scheme for its support, though 
devised by practical men, was manifestly imprac- 
ticable. It is as much as one set of men can do to 
carry on a university or a college. They must be 
select men to do that. To expect the same men to 
manage a farm of five thousand acres and support 
the college from the proceeds is as Utopian an idea 
as the uncrazed brain of man ever conceived. We 
are not surprised, therefore, to see that Dr. Goodrich 
was compelled to canvass for the college to secure 
funds for its maintenance ; nor that, in the year 1840, 
the very recitation benches were sold for debt, the 
entire lot bringing less than four dollars at the forced 
sale. About the same time Professor Thomson, the 
able professor of mathematics, committed suicide in 
the college campus, and Dr. Ely's wife returned from 
Philadelphia deranged and speechless. 

On Jan. 13th, 1840, Mr. Kemper was invited, by a 
committee of the Palmyra Temperance Society, to 
deliver an address before them on the evening of 
the first Tuesday of February. The committee were 
R. J. Wright, W. P. Cochran, and J. L. Hyde. He 
accepted, and made the speech. He received the 
thanks of the society and a very earnest request for 
the publication of the address. We have no informa- 
tion as to whether he agreed to its publication or not. 

In the fall of 1840 he entered the senior class, 
and having passed through the entire curriculum 
with distinguished honor to himself, he was gradu- 
ated with the degree of A.B. in the summer of 1841. 

In connection with his life at Marion College he. 
5 



98 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

formed a friendship to which we wish to call special 
attention, for the reason that it may serve to link with 
his name the memory of another good man and con- 
scientious, efficient teacher. We refer to William T. 
Davis. He was born in Washington County, Mo., 
May 3, 1817, and was educated at Marion College, 
where he was graduated in 1841. He was a profes- 
sional teacher, devoting his entire life to the work. He 
first taught in the country schools around Fayette, 
in Howard County; then in Columbia; then in Fay- 
ette, in connection with Mr. W. T. Lucky; then in 
the Masonic College at Lexington, of which he was 
at one time president ; and finally at Glasgow, as the 
principal of the Male High School there, from 1859 
to the fall of 1864, when he died a triumphant Chris- 
tian death, October 14. 

He was a man of good mind, unusual intelligence, 

sound judgment, imperturbable good humor, and 

sincere Christianity. No kinder, truer husband, 

father, friend, or neighbor ever lived. As a teacher 

he was universally beloved and respected by his 

pupils, hundreds of whom doubtless still live to 

revere his memory. The esteem in which he was 

held by Mr. Kemper is plainly shown in the fact that 

more of his letters were preserved than of any three 

other correspondents outside of his father's family, 

and in the further fact that he gave a most cordial 

and flattering indorsement to the effort to make him 

professor of mathematics and natural philosophy 

in the State University, in the spring of i860. His 

letters deserve this honor, for they are remarkably 

good specim.ens of friendly letter-writing. We shall 

give a few extracts from them. While a country 



LIFE AT MARION COLLEGE. 99 

teacher, trying to make money to complete his edu- 
cation, he writes : 

" My leisure time, for the want of books, has not 
been very profitably employed, being spent in read- 
ing truly 'miscellaneous.' But lately I have obtain- 
ed Glass's " Washingtonii Vita," which I am perusing 
with all the interest the novelty of such a work and 
the subject itself are calculated to excite. The work 
is accompanied by the recommendations of some of 
the best scholars in the country. J. Q. Adams says 
it is written in 'pure Ciceronian Latin.' There is 
something very ingenious, and to me sometimes a 
little diverting, in the manner in which Glass has 
adapted the ancient Latin to modern arts, improve- 
ments, and names. For instance, he q'cxW^ fij^earnis 
' arma ignevoma ;' the Quakers^ ' Tremebundi ;' a gov- 
ernor, ' gubernator;' cannon, ' tormenta majora,' etc. 
I have no news to tell you, and my main object in 
writing is alere flammam aniicitice. There is a great 
deal of sickness in some parts of this county. This 
exhorts us to be also ready, to have our lamps 
trimmed and burning, to 'walk thoughtful on the 
silent, solemn shore of that vast ocean we must sail 
so soon.' 'Tis a solemn though a glorious sight to 
see a Christian die, to see his lamp of life ' melt away 
into the light of heaven.' But to see a sinner leaving 
the world, which he had made his home, his all — 
oh, who can endure the sight? Kemper, my friend 
and brother, when I think of these things, I feel 
that there should be more to tell the tale of Calvary, 
more laborers in the fields, which are already white 
to the harvest. There is now a great moral battle to 
be fought, upon the success of which depend our in- 



lOO THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

dividual salvation and that of our country, the pros- 
perity of the Church, and the glory of its matchless 
King. This warfare is for life, and as earnest as the 
interests of heaven, earth, and hell can make it." 
" I fear that in our most religious institutions there 
is not enough of heart-c\x\\.\xxQ in proportion to the 
head-culture. The moral powers are of more impor- 
tance than the mental. They give character and 
dignity to man, and direct all his other powers, 
either for good or for evil. Therefore we should be 
anxious that every college in the land have a high 
tone of morals— not the cold morals of the deist, but 
the warm, living piety of the Gospel. For nothing 
else, I verily believe, will do. He that would serve 
his country well must act from the law that compre- 
hends all our social duties, ' Whatsoever ye would 
that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto 
them.' " Every line of these letters is worthy of 
preservation, but space here forbids. 

Another of his fellow-students was the Rev. John 
Leighton, D.D., one of the most scholarly and 
thoughtful ministers of Missouri. His graceful pen 
will close this account of Mr. Kemper's college 
days : 

"Saint Louis, April 20, 1881. 

" Dear Sir : Learning of the worthy purpose of publishing a 
memorial of the late Professor F. T. Kemper, I am prompted to 
write you. For though I have nothing special to communicate, 
my recollection of that excellent man covers a period in his life 
further back than is reached by the memory of most of his surviv- 
ing friends and admirers. 

"It was in the autumn of 1837" [1836, the Kempers en- 
tered] *' that he and his younger brother William, together with 
myself, entered Marion College, then an excellent and flourish- 



1 



LIFE AT MARION COLLEGE. loi 

ing institution under the presidency of Dr. William S. Potts. 
As the college was admirably manned, especially in the chairs of 
philosophy and classical literature, none of the alumni had the 
least apology for lack of drill or thorough scholarship. The 
eminent and life-long career of Mr. Kemper as an educator has 
been no more than a practical reflection of what his ahna mater 
was in those her best days. 

"After a lapse of more than forty years I retain a distinct 
remembrance of Mr. Kemper's personal appearance, as a youth- 
ful student. His presence was unusually commanding. His 
bearing was remarkably easy, yet always dignified. His coun- 
tenance was open. His large genial face was radiant with amia- 
bility and intelligence, and seemed always ready to pass into a 
smile. 

" If Mr. Kemper was not always facile princeps in his studies, 
he was certainly never second to any in his class. One pecu- 
liarity of his method I well remember. In preparing for recita- 
tion, he was not content — as most even good scholars are — to 
understand well all that bore directly on the subject. If, in 
his investigations, other matters not understood came within 
view, he would step out of his path to master these also. The 
thought then occurred to me that this industrious research would 
make him a man of wide intelligence. Those who have known 
him in later life, as I have not, can testify how far this expecta- 
tion was verified. 

" The religious and orthodox atmosphere of Marion College, and 
especially the pungent and eloquent sermons of President Potts, 
' worked wrath,' and occasioned the outcropping of sporadic 
cases of infidelity among the students. But our friend remained 
far removed from the young sceptics, whose elevation of mind 
lifted them above the ' mists of superstition.' While, indeed, 
he distanced them all in the differential calculus, and easily 
silenced them in literary debate, in religious things he never pre- 
tended to a penetration of mind that enabled him to see any in- 
consistency between reason and revelation. He remained a 
humble and avowed believer. 

" It was, I think, in the summer of 1843," [probably the spring 
of 1844] " and during the first year of my pastorate in Palmyra, 
that Mr. Kemper made me a visit, having in view the establish- 



102 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER, 

ing of a school of high grade in that place. Bearing upon the 
project, he gave us an able lecture in the church. But our peo- 
ple were so short-sighted as to fail to see the inviting door he 
opened. As they that evening gave no response to his overture, 
he soon after directed his steps toward the Missouri River. In 
the educational wealth thus conferred on that region during 
nearly half a century, the people of Palmyra may to-day see 
their own loss. Thus often upon the pivotal incident of an hour 
turns the whole subsequent career of a good man's life. A local 
obstacle in the channel deflects the river's course, and the tide of 
its healthful influence is shed far and wide over regions other- 
wise unvisited. Fraternally yours, 

"John Leighton." 



CHAPTER VI. 

IN MARION COUNTY, AFTER GRADUATION. 

" Nursed with skill, what dazzling fruits appear ! 

Even now sagacious foresight points to show 

A little bench of heedless bishops here ; 

And there a chancellor in embryo ; 

Or bard sublime, if bard may e'er be so, 
I As Milton, Shakspeare, names that ne'er shall die ! 

Though now he crawl along the ground so low. 

Nor weeting how the muse should soar so high, 
• Wisheth, poor starveling elf, his paper kite mayfly." 

Shenstone. 

The first instruction which Mr. Kemper received 
was at the home school, sustained by his father and 
one of his neighbors, for the benefit of their own 
children and those immediately around. Here he 
remained until he was thirteen years old. He then 
served as a clerk in a store between four and five 
years. Whether he then attended school again in 
Virginia, Ave do not positively know. He probably 
did for a year or more ; for he says in the catalogue 
of 1876 that he " studied Latin for a year or two at 
a country school ;" and it was most likely done at 
this time. After this he tells us that " his father built 
a small school-room in his yard, where he installed 
him as teacher of his younger brothers and sisters " 
How long he was the instructor of the family school 



I04 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

we are not told. We know that he left home for 
Marion College in the summer of 1836, before he 
was twenty years of age. He had then read Caesar 
and Virgil and begun the study of the Greek. He 
spent the succeeding eight years, or, more accurately, 
seven years and seven months, from October 2, 1836, 
to May, i8j|/j, in Marion County. Of this period, six 
and a half years were passed in connection with 
Marion College. The last year he taught a private 
boarding-school at Philadelphia in the same county, 
less than a mile from the Upper or main College. 

He says that he was tutor in Marion College for 
two and a half years. From the statements made in 
connection with this in the catalogue, it would seem 
a natural conclusion that this service as tutor w^as 
performed after he was graduated. If so, it does 
not, of course, include the teaching which he did the 
first year that he spent as a pupil in the preparatory 
department at the Lower College It is manifest 
from his journal, as already quoted, that he was a 
teacher at that time, probably until he left to act for 
the Tract Society. If not, w^hy should he have at- 
tended the teachers' meetings, as he did.? If this 
conclusion be correct, then he taught some three 
years and a half at Marion College and one year at 
Philadelphia, or more than half the time he spent in 
the county. 

The last six years of this period are the most ob- 
scure in his life. We are entirely without the im- 
portant aid derived from his journal. Of those who 
knew him then, and were in daily association with 
him, but few survive. Forty years have rolled their 
oblivious waves over those scenes, so that where no 



IN MARION COUNTY, AFTER GRADUATION, 105 

contemporary memoranda were made we may ]ook 
in vain for anything more than the most general 
statements from the personal recollections of his 
friends. Yet it must have been an interesting por- 
tion of his life, for it covers the entire time which 
he spent in the college proper and the first years of 
his professional career as a teacher. 

We would call this the period of his apprenticeship 
in the school-room, did we not fear that his lips, 
though silent, would rebuke the statement. We 
have often heard him say that it required a minimum 
of twenty-five years of faithful, laborious service as 
a teacher before the best man could claim that his 
apprenticeship was passed, and he could be, con- 
sidered a graduated journeyman or master-workman 
in the profession. He often said to us, who were 
among his earlier pupils, that he was but an appren- 
tice, learning how to teach, and that he should con- 
sider himself fortunate should he acquire the art at 
the end of a quarter of a century. The most then 
that we can affirm with his approval is, that this was 
the beginning of his professional apprenticeship. 

Before we take our final leave of Marion College, 
it may be interesting to many to learn what became 
of it. We know the circumstances of its origin and 
the facts of its earlier years. It was a grand con- 
ception : too grand for those days and for this un- 
developed country. As Livy says,, in his preface, it 
was one of those great things that perish by their 
own ponderous gravitation. Nevertheless it was a 
great scheme, and was engineered by great men. 
No more worthy names occur in the annals of Mis- 
souri than those of David Nelson, William S. Potts, 

5* 



io6 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

James Gallaher, Ezra S. Ely, and Hiram P. Good- 
rich. They were strong men then, and would be 
accounted giants now. Under their ministration the 
college accomplished a great work for the young 
men who were privileged to enjoy its benefits. It 
gave them the advantages of a classical and mathe- 
matical education which have hardly been surpassed 
in Missouri since. Some of its pupils have been 
among the useful and distinguished men of the State. 
If it had done nothing more than the education of 
Mr. Kemper, it surely would not have lived in vain. 
But a college is like a man. However great its 
soul, it cannot live without a body. Marion Col- 
lege ^-as a grand soul in the mere phantom of a 
body. The body perished from sheer inanition, and 
the soul passed to immortality, in the limbus col- 
legioriim perditorum^ where it, by no means, finds 
itself alone. It is to be classed with the visionary 
manual labor colleges. Its demise occurred prob • 
ably in the year 1845, when it passed into the 
Masonic College. As such it was removed to Lex- 
ington, Mo., 1847. There it was conducted with 
some degree of success by the Masonic fraternity, 
and took a part in the training of quite a number of 
young men, some of whom have since been well 
known in the State. It was donated by the Masons 
to the State of Missouri to be converted into a mili- 
tary school, which was known as the Missouri Mili- 
tary Institute. During the war the buildings and 
grounds were occupied as a camp by the garrison, 
and around it occurred the siege of Lexington, 
which resulted in the surrender of its defenders, 
under Col. Mulligan, after a gallant resistance, Sep- 



IN MA RION COUNTY, AF TER GRA D UA TION. i o 7 

tember 20, 1861, to Gen, Sterling Price, commanding 
the State forces in connection with the Confederacy. 

After the war the main building was repaired by 
the State and a military school opened. Its fame 
attracted to its classic halls an attendance of seven 
boys and eight girls, whereupon the State returned 
it to the Masons, The Grand Lodge generously do- 
nated it to the Southern Methodist Church in the fall 
of 1 871 ; and so, by a series of changes, the Marion 
College, founded for boys by the Calvinistic Presby- 
terians, under the lead of Dr. David Nelson, has 
become the Central Female College of the Arminian 
Methodists. 

Among the letters preserved by Mr. Kemper there 
is one from John Clark, a student of Masonic Col- 
lege, in which there are some interesting state- 
ments. He speaks of the Masons having charge, 
and of the president, a Mr. Smith, as a jolly old 
bachelor from the East. They proposed to extend 
the course of study, and to put algebra, Virgil, Greek 
Testament, and part of the GrcEca Majora into the 
preparatory course. Upon this he very wisely re- 
marks : " It should ever be remembered that it is not 
the number of studies that makes the scholar, but it 
is the studying well those that he has anything to do 
with." This idea is not very elegantly expressed, 
but it shows that John Clark, whoever he was, had 
caught sight of a truth that many of our teachers fail 
to see. Cramming, cramming, cramming, as though 
the human mind were a mere receptacle for the stor- 
ing away of facts, instead of a living, sensitive 
energy, whose vital forces are to be conserved, de- 
veloped, controlled, and directed. In this respect 



lo8 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

there is a striking analogy between it and the body 
which it inhabits. Let the food be of the most 
wholesome and nutritious character, still it is not 
wise to gorge the stomach with it. Every ounce 
taken beyond that which is assimilated, and thus used 
for blood, and bone, and nerve, and muscle, is not 
only a waste but a positive injury to the body which 
is burdened with it. So any truth or fact, no matter 
how pure and important it maybe, that is taken into 
the mind, and lies there as so much foreign matter, 
■unappropriated and undigested, is an incubus and 
not a blessing. It is only those studies that improve 
the mental powers, that stimulate and nourish them, 
which are of real service. Take any mind, young or 
old, and ply it with facts, and pile truth after truth 
upon it until it is all a crudis indigestaque moles., and 
you injure that mind. There are a great many such 
persons to be seen. The ministerial and teaching 
professions furnish the greatest proportion of them. 
They have been aptly styled " learned fools." They 
are walking encyclopaedias. They know more about 
Latin, Greek, and Hebrew than they do about Eng- 
lish. They are more familiar with the past than 
with the present. The recondite facts of astronomy 
and geology are as well known to them as are the 
names of their children. Yet these men are failures 
as teachers, preachers, or in any other profession in 
which they may engage. They are not educated 
men. They are simply learned men. Their minds 
have been treated as storehouses, and so have be- 
come mere lumber-rooms. If they had memorized 
only one half and thought twice as much, they would 
have been vigorous, useful, practical workers. The 



( 



IN MARION COUNTY, AFTER GRADUATION. 109 

success or excellence of a school is not to be esti- 
mated by the extent of its course, but by the careful, 
painstaking manner in which it does its work, and 
especially by the habits of life and thought which it 
induces in its pupils. 

Mr. Clark's letter furnishes an account of quite a 
tragic scene in the life of the founder of Marion Col- 
ledge, the Rev. David Nelson, M D. Dr. Nelson 
was undoubtedly a great and good man. In his 
early manhood he had been a sceptic ; but his vigor- 
ous mind, under heavenly guidance, worked its way 
out of the fog of infidelity up into the clear, sunlit 
regions of eternal truth. Thenceforward he became 
a David in the army of Israel. His book, " The 
Cause and Cure of Infidelity," is one of the best on 
the subject, and his voice from the pulpit carried 
conviction to many an erring and doubting soul. 
He, however, was not a believer in African slavery. 
He shared the views, which prevailed at Danville, 
Kentucky, and which were not uncommon even 
among those who themselves were the owners of 
slaves. He probably expressed his views freely and 
independently. This arrayed against him the igno- 
ant and prejudiced among the slaveholders of 
Marion County. Mr. Clark' writes : "Last Sunday 
Dr. David Nelson strayed to Little Union, and was 
asked to take a seat in the pulpit. He did so. In a 
few minutes Old Bosley walked in. It was soon 
discovered that there was an evil spirit in his breast 
larger than a woodchuck. At the close of the ser- 
mon the Baptist preacher called on Dr. Nelson to 
close. Just as he arose, Old Bosley jumped up and 
said, ' Stop ! stop ! sir ; you are the d — d rascal that 



no THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

has been running off all the negroes for the last 
three years ! ' He then walked up into the stand and 
took Dr. Nelson by the scalp-lock and led him out 
of the house. Nevertheless the meeting broke up 
in tolerably good order. The Baptists have re- 
ported Bosley to the grand jury. Dr. Nelson has 
two suits against him — one for slander and one for 
assault and battery. He says that he is going to run 
him to the last notch." 

But to us the most interesting portion of Mr. 
Clark's letter, is that which has personal reference 
to Mr. Kemper. He writes : " It has been said that 
the Masons have said that the college cannot go on 
to any advantage without they get you here as a pro- 
fessor. I do not know ho\^^ true that is, but I heard 
Mr. Montgomery say that the Masons would have 
you here if there was a chance." This lets us know 
what reputation he had made for himself as a 
teacher while in the college and at Philadelphia. Mr. 
Kemper was not a Mason, so that there was no rea- 
son of society affiliation why their thoughts should 
be directed to him. It is one of the stones in the 
monument of his professional success that he should 
have been thought, by those who knew him best, to 
be necessary to the success of the college, whence he 
had been so recently graduated. 

His friend William T. Davis, teaching near Fay- 
ette, writes during this period several letters, from 
which we make a few extracts: " My school goes 
on this session very much as it did last. ' Victorious 
Analysis ' is toiling away slowly under my direc- 
tion, digging out Latin roots, clearing away the 
rubbish from angles and parallelograms, and hew- 



IN MARION COUNTY, AFTER GRADUATION, iii 

ing out equations. Hem ! fine figure that ! Some 
of my boys are lazy, shirking scamps, and if they 
had long ears I could give them a still more appro- 
priate name. Others are doing tolerably well. 

'' I have made one or two attempts to analyze the 
rule of Position, but have not succeeded to my satis- 
faction. Yet I think surely it must be susceptible of 
demonstration, as well as the verification of the 
result. If yo.u have succeeded, send me your work. 
I, too, think that every teacher ought to be able to 
show the reason of the arithmetical rules. 

" I have been thinking how it would do to devote 
one's self entirely to teaching and the study of the 
sciences and literature. I should like it extremely ; 
and though I know so little of those that I have 
slightly dipped into, I scarcely know how to give 
them up, which I shall be compelled to do if I go 
to pettifogging. To borrow Carlyle's style a mo- 
ment, Parnassus is high up toward heaven, and 
one can stand there and almost converse with the 
blessed gods {^(XKapioi 5foz) ; but he can' t quite reach 
the goblet of nectar, and he is too high up to be 
well supplied with bacon and bread ; also it is very 
cold there. After all, it seems that poverty, with his 
grim visage and afflicting scourge, will drive me into 
a profession in spite of all I can do." 

One of the most interesting papers we have seen, 
in our examination and search for materials for this 
volume, is the following document, the original of 

which lies before us : — 

'•'Philada., May ist, 1843. 
^^ All to whom it may coticern : 

"We, the undersigned, taking into consideration the interest 
of our district, and the absolute necessity of employing a good 



112 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

and competent teacher for the present term, and also finding the 
funds appropriated by law insufficient to employ Mr. F. T. 
Kemper, the present gentleman wanted by the district, do hereby 
bind ourselves to pay to him, the said Mr. F, T. Kemper, the 
following amounts respectively subscribed, payable at the end of 
the session in such articles as may be subscribed : 

" Subscribers' Names. Articles stibscribed. 

Jesse Ewing, 3 barrels of corn next year. 

D. C. Winget, pd. $6 in furniture. 

F. B. Jeffries, pd. $6 in smithing. 

John B. Singleton, pd. $2 in tailoring. 

Wm. R. Walker, $5 in trade. 

James Z McCormick, pd. $i in trade. 

I. M. McCormick, pd. i cow at Hickes'. 

Joseph Clark, pd. i sow with her pigs. 

Will. Muldrow, pd. rent of 12 acres of land in the 

Ely field." 

The private boarding-school at Philadelphia did 
not continue longer than a year. Its history, how- 
ever, embraces a part of two years. It was probably 
begun some time early in 1S43, ^^^ was continued 
until April, 1844. We have proof of this in two let- 
ters from the pen of Mr. Kemper himself. It was a 
boarding-school for boys, and received both sexes to 
the privileges of the school-room. The boarding de- 
partment was presided over by Mrs. Mary Allison, 
the wife of Mr. Henry Allison, the maternal uncle 
with whom Mr. Kemper had served as salesman at 
Madison Court-House, Virginia. This gentleman 
had a strong attachment and great respect for his 
nephew, and had followed him to Missouri in quest 
of a new field, where he might repair his broken 
fortunes. 

The school was not a failure, and yet it was not 
without its troubles. They greatly mistake who 



IN MARION COUNTY, AFTER GRADUATION. 113 

suppose that the best schools always sail over smooth 
and prosperous seas. This would be true, were not 
human nature a weak and, too often, a wicked thing 
as well. The very excellence of instruction and dis- 
cipline is sometimes the cause of provoking the hos- 
tility of ignorance and depravity in pupils and pa- 
trons. We have known institutions which rode upon 
the topmost wave of popular approval, but which 
were merely gilded hulks, whose unseasoned or rot- 
ten timbers could not have passed honest inspection, 
nor stood the wrenching of the slightest storm. 

The mission of the teacher is to instruct, to culti- 
vate, to control, to direct the ignorant, crude, way- 
ward, wandering mind and heart. The untamed 
horse does not relish the curb of the bit and bridle. 
Nor does the human spirit naturally like the strong, 
firm master's hand, that demands its obedience and 
submission to the law of right. There is an aggra- 
vation of the difficulty in the well-known truth, that 
the greater the ignorance and wickedness, the less 
consciousness of the need and the greater the hostili- 
ty to the necessary instruction and discipline. The 
very crudeness and inexperience of the child are, in 
him, somewhat of a palliation of the offence. But it 
is one of the severest trials in the life of the honest, 
faithful, intelligent teacher, that after he has taxed 
all his powers in the vain endeavor to make some- 
thing out of a poor, ill-mannered, uncultured, disobe- 
dient, and indolent pupil, instead of receiving the 
thankful and cordial co-operation of the parent, he 
is visited with his unmerited and ungrateful maltreat- 
ment and abuse. To the credit of our race be it said, 
that such cases are not common, but are the rare ex- 



114 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

ceptions. Nine tenths of parents do really, if not 
fully, appreciate the wise and patient efforts of the 
true educator, and give him a solace for the opposi- 
tion and insults of the remaining pestiferous tenth. 

Mr. Kemper, as is well known, was no mere figure- 
head in his school, nor did wilful ignorance, indo- 
lence, and insolence find a comfortable lodging 
there. We are not surprised, therefore, to know 
that there were two cases of somewhat serious trouble 
during his short stay at Philadelphia. They were the 
occasions of his writing a letter to the parents, in each 
instance, copies of which he kept, and they are well 
worthy of permanent preservation. 

" October 20, 1843. 
^'Mr. W M . 

" Sir: A man who wants a school for his children at all wants 
a good one. To secure this object, nothing is more necessary 
than that parents and teacher should work together • both must 
pull at the same end of the rope. It is to secure this important 
object that I write. But I should not undertake to present the 
subject to your consideration, if I did not think you would view 
it reasonably and candidly, and in the spirit of a gentleman. I am 
sure you will, 

" In the first place it is manifest that, during the past term, 
there has not been that co-operation of parents and teacher that 
is so necessary. There is one very singular circumstance con- 
nected with the teaching of your children, of which I presume 
you are not aware. For I believe, if you had known it, I should 
have received the most ample justice, instead of the treatment 
which I have endured. The circumstance is this — that while 
your children were treated as well or better than any other schol- 
ars, they are the only ones, out of upward of fifty, that I could 
not satisfy. After I found that they were, one after another, leav- 
ing the school, until on the last day they had vacated, books and 
all, I put the question to my remaining scholars (about thirty), 
whether I had ever treated your children worse than them. They 



IN MA RION COUNTY, AF TER GRA D UA TION. 1 1 5 

unanimously answered, No. On the contrary, they agreed that 
my attentions to your children were marked with kindness. 

" Every good teacher feels under the most sacred obligations to 
the parents of his pupils. But the test, whether he fulfils those 
obligations, should be a fair one. This is a very different thing 
from condemning him with one-sided evidence, or judging him 
without opportunit}'' of defence. Now is it not ? 

" In regard to my treatment of your children, I have no expla- 
nation to make. The time for such explanation is past. Though 
I hold myself responsible for all my acts, and rejoice to meet that 
responsibility, still I must have a fair hearing or none at all. It 
has long been a maxim with me to do my duty, and let my repu- 
tation take care of itself. It will always do it. But the teacher 
who has to go around the neighborhood and patch up his charac- 
ter every time a scholar is offended, is unfit for his business, and 
deserves to be drummed out of town. If I do a man a real, or 
even supposed, injury, I am always glad to make explanations 
and acknowledgments. But it is surely proper that we come 
face to face, that we may mutually understand each other. This, 
I apprehend, is the right way to settle difficulties. But the treat- 
ment I have received is not, in my humble judgment, the best 
way to promote peace in communities, the prosperity of schools, 
or that sweetness of disposition in children, which is a far more 
important part of education than the learning of a little algebra 
or grammar. 

" Parents should never intrust their children to a teacher whom 
they cannot respect. But when they have one who is both com- 
petent and faithful, they should sustain him through thick and thin. 
It is destructive to the best interests of their children, whenever 
they say or do anything that diminishes a scholar's profound re- 
spect for the teacher. This respect is of the utmost importance 
to successful teaching, and it may always be secured, even though 
a teacher is not perfect. Perfection does not grow on earth. The 
great point to settle is this : Is the teacher capable, and is he 
willing to do his duty when he knows it ? 

"The business of teaching is too little understood. I believe 
that wherever it is understood it is conceded that there is no pro- 
fession on earth that demands more varied talents and learning, 
or is really more useful. I can truly say that my labors as a 



Il6 THE LTFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

teacher have taxed all the best powers that I possess. It has 
been my unceasing study, day and night, to promote the highest 
interest of my scholars, and especially to infuse into my school 
mental activity and love of books, instead of that languor and 
dread of confinement which are so common with young scholars. 
In order to secure these objects, I have been actuated by prin- 
ciples based on truth ; I have pursued a systematic plan ; I have 
studied all my teaching beforehand, from the simplest copy that 
I have set up to the most obtuse parts of arithmetic that have 
needed explanation. In every case I have succeeded where I 
have had a chance to bring my plans fully to bear on the 
scholar's mind. I believe that I can make a good scholar, with 
just as much certainty as you can make a crop of corn, if I am 
properly sustained by parents. But it is a hopeless case if I have 
to work against the bad habits children have acquired at other 
schools, and, at the same time, under the threats and fault-find- 
ings of their parents. Such teaching as I have aimed 2X (whether 
successfully or not is not for me to say) not only demands the 
approbation of parents, but their warmest gratitude. Its value 
can never be estimated in dollars and cents. 

"I will give you one incident that occurred with Miss L 

and myself, which will illustrate what I mean by having a chance 
to apply my plans successfully. It is painful for me to tell it. 

" It was an arrangement of my school that in study hours we 
would have no more talking than there is in church, allotting a 
regular time for all talking, and playing, and moving about. 
This arrangement was succeeding admirably, and would have 
succeeded entirely but for some embarrassments thrown in the 
way by some of the larger scholars. These were affection- 
ately reasoned with, and persuaded, and admonished, and finally 

threatened. Miss L did well for a time, and promised to do 

well ; but finally cut loose restraint, and not only trampled the 
authority of the school under foot, but said, in the presence of 
other scholars, that she would talk as much as she pleased. 
This remark of hers she seemed to put into execution, and finally 

I took occasion to say : ^ Miss L , you must quit talking. Ypu 

have been laughing and talking a g7'eat deal this momitig, and it 
will not do.' She seemed angry, and appeared in school no more. 

" Whether I did right or wrong it is not the business of this 



IN MA RION CO UN TV, AF TER GRA D UA TION. 1 1 '/ 

letter to discuss. My object is not to find fault, or I should have 
written long ago ; and you would never have heard from me 
about schools if I had not learned that you propose to send to 
me again. It is with the hope that we may have some more 
pleasant way of adjusting difficulties that I have mentioned the 
subject at all. Yours very respectfully, 

" Fredk. T. Kemper." 

The second letter is as follows : — 

" Philadelphia, Mo., March 20, 1844. 
" Madam : 

" As you probably have some curiosity to know what I have 
to say about your son's leaving my school, and as there would 
seem to be propriety in the measure, I have determined to 
write you on the subject. I feel the less delicacy in doing this, 
as I have nothing to say but what is well known here, and can 
easily be substantiated. 

" Your son was formerly on the most intimate terms in this 
family, and seemed as perfectly at home as if he were in your 
house. Nor did he only seem so, he said so. This state of feel- 
ing was pleasing to us all, and was encouraged. This intimacy 
showed itself in various ways— in the interchange of some little 
present or presents, perhaps some letters, and in the thousand 
nameless civilities that go to sweeten the intercourse of friends. 

*' About three months ago his whole demeanor was changed. 
The day is distinctly recollected. From that time to the day of 
his departure he has been as sullen and as sour to my aunt as 
he was before bland and polite. He has sat three times a day 
within about one foot of her ; I sat immediately opposite to him 
at table. I do not believe he has ever spoken to my aunt, when 
he could avoid it, during the time above mentioned. 

"This strange state of things was seen by her with mingled 
feelings of surprise and regret. She expressed these feelings 
frequently to myself and to several of her boarders. I for a long 
time persuaded her not to regard it. I attributed Mr. O.'s con- 
duct to a nervous irascibility consequent upon hard study. Long 
after he got in ' his way,' as we called it, I was the same as before, 
as can be abundantly testified. My aunt, however, was un- 
happy about it, an4 deputed two of her boarders, at two different 



Ii8 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

times, to find out what was the matter, without seeming to 
be sent by her. They reported that nothing was the matter. 
Nothing was the matter, but J.'s conduct got no better. I could 
now assign no cause but malignity for his demeanor, and I de- 
termined that at table I would have as little to say to him as he 
had to say to her. I found this state of things to be so unnatural, 
and so gloomy, and so different from the former mirth that pre- 
vailed at the table, that I de;termined to have some explanation 
from J., or to send him away. I would live thus no longer. 

" I wrote to him that I wanted an understanding, and nothing 
more. If I had injured him, or if any of the family had, we would 
make reparation. In my letter was the following sentence, 
which was the offensive one : ' Every man has a civil right to be 
unsocial, taciturn, or grum if he chooses ; but such conduct, after 
a year or two of warm friendship, is calculated at least to excite 
inquiry.' 

" His reply was, that he was of a retiring disposition ; that at 
public boarding-houses people were not obliged to be social, and 
that the friendship between us would never have been broken up 
if I had not enveloped myself in ' icy chilliness,' 
. "As to his retiring disposition, he surely had a right to com- 
mend it if he chose. But it seemed odd to us that he was so 
peculiarly retired the /<7j/ three months of his intercourse with us — 
people of very retiring habits commonly showing it the most on 
first acquaintance, and not after a year or two of intimacy. As 
to his being under no obligation to be social, I had acknowledged 
that in my letter. But still, if he chose to change his demeanor 
from that of a member of a private family on terms of intimate 
friendship, to that of a boarder at a public tavern, while he had a 
civil right so to do, we still thought it demanded some explana- 
tion. We thought it strange that a student who was making such 
progress in the study of the humanizing arts should so utterly 
forget one essential attribute of true greatness, viz., to be kind 
and condescending to the meanest servant that ministered to his 
wants. 

" I was truly relieved to learn that he had nothing to allege 
against my aunt, and that my ' icy chilliness ' was the sole cause 
of breaking up existing friendship. Whether I am chilly to my 
other boarding scholars will appear from the inclosed certificate. 



IN MA RION CO UNT Y, AF TER GRA D UA TION. 1 1 9 

It is signed by every pupil who boarded with us. I have taught 
sixty scholars this term, and I have no doubt that from fifty-nine 
of them I could get a similar certificate. But the subject is too 
ludicrous for a very grave reply, and the charge has already 
excited much merriment among my scholars and my neighbors. 

"I believe that J.'s charge of icy chilliness will appear to 
his calmer judgment as a miserable and disingenuous subterfuge, 
and that he will class this whole affair among the graver follies of 
his youth. My hope is that this rupture with him will make him 
wiser, and conduce to his future discretion and happiness, for 
which no one is more sincerely desirous than. Madam, 
"Your ob't servant, 

" Fredk. T. Kemper." 

The certificate referred to is signed by Edw. B. 
Dyer, William C. McAfee, Thomas J Montgomery, 
Isaac H. Jones, and Benjamin Lafon. 

These letters reveal the heartaches and sore cares 
which harass a teacher's life, and at the same time 
show the tact and good judgment which Mr. Kemper 
displayed in dealing with them, when he was an 
inexperienced young man of twenty-seven — a mere 
apprentice, as he called himself. The last letter is 
valuable as showing that even a good student may 
have very crooked ways, give his teacher serious 
trouble, and by his persistence in evil-doing prove 
himself unfit to be allowed to remain in a well- 
regulated school. 

The next chapter carries us to the scene of his 
greatest usefulness and triumph, at Boonville. 



CHAPTER VIT. 

THE BOONVILLE BOARDING-SCHOOL. 

" Yet is the school-house rude, 
As is the chrysalis to the butterfly, — 
To the rich flower, the seed. The dusky walls 
Hold the fair germ of knowledge, and the tree 
Glorious in beauty, golden with its fruits, 
To this low school-house traces back its life." 

Street. 

Mr. Kemper was now in the twenty-eighth year of 
his life — the maturity of his young manhood. He had 
seen enough of the practical side of life on the farm 
where he was reared, and in the counting-room, to 
lift him above the follies of the mere pedant. He 
had pursued a liberal course of science and litera- 
ture, and had been graduated with signal honor from 
an institution in charge of men of acknowledged 
ability, and which commanded the patronage of the 
most intelligent States of the East. After years of 
hesitation and earnest, prayerful thought, he had 
finally turned away from the ministry and the 
law, and dedicated his life without reserve to the a 

arduous, misimderstood, and greatly undervalued 
profession of education. He had begun his novitiate 
as the instructor of his own brothers and sisters in 
Virginia. He had served his alma mater as tutor for 



THE BOOJVVILLE BOARDIATG-SCHOOL, 121 

three years. He had conducted with success, on his 
own responsibility, a private boarding-school under 
the very shadow of the college whose diploma he 
bore. Now he began to ask himself as to a per- 
manent arrangement for the future. While we do 
not know that there were any special discourage- 
ments at Philadelphia, and we do know that he met 
with decided encouragement there, yet we may 
readily see that the disastrous failure of Marion 
College and the smallness of the community where 
he had begun to teach, working upon his desire to 
make his life as largely useful as possible, would 
cause him to consider whether he might not find a 
more favorable field for the prosecution of his life 
work. 

At any rate, we know he determined to leave 
Philadelphia, and that, as we are told by Dr. Leigh- 
ton, he first offered himself to the people of Palmyra. 
That they failed to respond to his proposal should 
not be misconstrued to the injury of Mr. Kemper 
as an acceptable teacher, nor to the discredit of the 
intelligent enterprise of the citizens of that goodly 
town. With the wreck of their hopes at Marion 
College, we can easily see that the people of that 
section would be suspicious of any new educational 
enterprise. 

We are told by Mrs. Kemper that his thoughts 
were directed to Boonville through the influence of 
a New School Presbyterian minister at that time 
living there. This was doubtless the Rev. Mr. Slo- 
cum, who had a short and not very glorious career 
in Boonville. This is quite probable from the fact 
that, up to this time, Mr. Kemper's associations had 
6 



T22 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

been mainly with trie New School element in the 
church. His old pastor in Virginia, Rev. Dr. Pol- 
lock, was of that party. Dr. David Nelson and Rev. 
James Gallaher, both of whom he very greatly ad- 
mired, were on that side of the question. We are 
not surprised, therefore, that his first affiliations were 
with the Slocum party in Boonville, nor, on the 
other hand, that he turned to the Bell, or O. S. side, 
as soon as he saw the spirit of Mr. Slocum. As far 
as the doctrinal issue in the case was concerned, it 
is doubtful whether Mr. Kemper took the trouble to 
thoroughly post himself; and if he did, his sympa- 
thies may have been with the exscinded synods on 
constitutional rather than doctrinal grounds. 

But whatever may have been the inducing cause 
or causes, Mr. Kemper left Marion County in the 
spring of 1844 and came to Boonville, then the most 
beautiful, attractive, and flourishing town in central 
Missouri. It was the lowest point on the river 
which was readily accessible from the south by 
means of good roads running over an unbroken 
country. In those days, before railroads had revolu- 
tionized the commerce of the State, it enjoyed a 
large and lucrative wholesale and forwarding trade 
with the southern counties, extending to the ex- 
treme south-west. When the writer was a school- 
boy it was a usual sight to see its broad and level 
streets filled with wagons from Springfield and the 
lead regions of Newton County. 

As this place is to be henceforth, with the excep- 
tion of five years, the scene of Mr. Kemper s labors, 
we shall copy from the Centennial Catalogue of the 
school what is there said concerning it ; 



l^HE BOONVILLE BOARDING-SCHOOL. 123 

" Boonville is near the geographical center of 
Missouri, on the south bank of the Missouri, one 
hundred and ninety miles from its mouth. In its 
aboriginal state. Central Missouri was, on the north 
side of the river, the hunting'-ground of the Foxes, 
Sacs, and other Indian tribes; and on the south, of 
the Osages. In 1805 Daniel Boone, who then lived 
near St. Charles, discovered the Boone's Lick Salt 
Springs, in Howard County, thirteen miles from 
Boonville, where Nathan and David Boone, his 
sons, settled and made salt from 1806 to 1810. This 
seems to have been the earliest settlement in Central 
Missouri, and from it an indefinite region, from St. 
Charles westward, on both sides of the river, was 
called the 'Boone's Lick Country.' 

" Other settlers followed, and as early as 1810 a 
small community had built and occupied Kincaid's 
Fort, a few hundred yards up the river from the 
present site of Old Franklin (directly opposite Boon- 
ville), while another was established in Cooper's 
Fort, a few miles above The south side of the 
river was settled in 181 1. Cole's Fort was built in 
that year, two and a half miles below the present 
site of Boonville, on a bluff overhanging the river. 
About the same time ' Widow ' Cole's Fort was built 
on the flat ground at the mouth of the stream flow- 
ing into the river near the north-east corner of the 
city. This was the first settlement inside of the pres- 
ent city limits. 

" All development of the country was stopped by 
the war of 1812-15 with England. The Indians 
sided actively with the British ; the forts on the 
north side of the river were besieged, and the men of 



124 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

those on the south were shot by ambushed foes. It 
was at this period that the famous exploit of Miss 
Cooper was performed. Cooper's Fort was besieged 
by an Indian force so overwhelming that its reduc- 
tion was only a question of time. Miss Cooper met 
the emergency by mounting a horse and riding at 
full speed over and through the enemy. She was 
greeted with a shower of bullets, but escaped un- 
harmed, and soon brought a reinforcement from 
Kincaid's Fort, which broke up the siege. 

'* The war closed in 1815, and during that year the 
first house in Boonville, outside the fort, was built 
by a man named Roup, on or near the site of the 
residence of Judge Adams, and two or three hundred 
yards from the school buildings. The stream which 
runs through the play-grounds is called from him, 
Roup's Branch." [This was Gilead Rupe, who is said 
to have been the first white man to settle within the 
present limits of Lafayette County. It is asserted 
that he built his house two and a half miles south- 
east of where Lexington now stands, about the year 
1815 — the very year in which Roup built the first 
house in Boonville. We have documentary evidence 
which makes it somewhat doubtful whether the 
date assigned to Gilead Rupe's settlement in Lafay- 
ette County is correct. It is the original patent 
issued to him for the very land, S. W. Quarter, Sec- 
tion 9, T. 50, R. 27, on which he is said to have built. 
It was granted July 30, 1821, is signed in autograph 
by President James Monroe, and gives the title to 
"Gilead Rupe, of Howard County, Missouri." 
Cooper and Lafayette counties had both been detach- 
ed from Howard. We have other evidence which 



THE BOONVILLE BOARDING-SCHOOL. 125 

makes it certain that he did not come to Lafayette 
County prior to the fall of 1818. There is a Rupe's 
Branch running from this tract into the western 
borders of Lexington. Thr5 Gilead Rupe kept the 
ferry at Boonville during these early days.] 

" The second building was erected the next year 
by Dr. Asa Morgan, on the present site of the Cen- 
tral National Bank. The first court in Boonville 
was held in the house of ' Widow ' Cole, inside the 
fort, in 1816, David Barton [who penned the original 
constitution of Missouri], afterward United States 
Senator, presiding. The fear of Indian troubles 
having passed away with the war, 1816 and the suc- 
ceeding years were marked by a large influx of set- 
tlers. To use the words of one of our oldest and 
best citizens, who has lived in Cooper County since 
1815, ' they came by hundreds.' 

"In 1817 Dr. Asa Morgan and Charles Lucas, 
father of James H. Lucas, of St. Louis, drew the plan 
of Boonville, but no lots were sold until August, 
1819, when, the county of Cooper having been formed, 
the embryo town was made its capital. By this 
time, however, the town of Franklin was rapidly 
developing on the low ground of the opposite shore ; 
and it was not until 1834, when it became evident 
that the treacherous current of the river would 
finally sweep it away, that Boonville showed any 
signs of prosperity. From that time its develop- 
ment was rapid for many years ; but the loss of its 
wholesale trade, caused by the extension of railroads, 
has materially checked its growth. 

" The city now contains 5000 or 6000 inhabitants. 
In point of educational advantages it has, besides the 



126 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

public graded schools, seven private schools of 
various grades. There are ten churches of various 
denominations. The M. K. & T. Railroad, which 
crosses the Missouri "l^iver here, puts the town in 
direct and easy communication with Chicago and 
the East on the one hand, and with Texas on the 
other. An elegant iron bridge, one third of a mile 
long, spans the river for its use. The O. V. & S. 
K. Railroad also gives us Eastern connection through 
Tipton and St. Louis. 

"In healthfulness and beauty of situation, Boon- 
ville stands unrivaled among the towns of Missouri. 
Built on hills which come boldly up to the edge of 
the river, it enjoys all the beautifying effects of 
water and undulating landscape, without exposure to 
the exhalations of low grounds. Cholera visited the 
city once or twice in its early history, but for many 
years it has escaped both cholera and small-pox, 
though they have been very fatal at points but a 
few miles distant. In the course of thirty-two years 
the Kemper Family School has lost but one student 
by death." 

Mr. Kemper came to Boonville during the spring 
of 1844, the time of the great flood in the Missouri 
River, when its waters attained their maximum 
height, since the white man first became acquainted 
with them. It not only overflowed its banks, but 
stretched from bluff to bluff, five miles from shore to 
shore. Not only the houses of the unfortunate 
inhabitants of its bottom-lands were daily seen float- 
ing down the stream, but the steamboats lost them- 
selves in the wide waste of waters. Roup's Branch 
and the dry ravines that drain into it became unford- 



TFIE BOONVILLE BOARDING-SCHOOL. 127 

able by reason of the water backed up from the swol- 
len river. The writer of these lines, then a lad of 
seven, came near drowning in a gully that now runs 
through the play-grounds of the school, and was 
rescued by the kindly help of his friend and neigh- 
bor boy, George W. Tracy. 

Mr. Kemper bore with him, when he went to 
Boonville, the following letter of recommendation : 

"Saint Louis, March 30, 1844. 

" I have known Mr. F. T. Kemper as a student in Marion 
College for about two years, while holding the office of President 
of that Institution. His progress in study was rapid, and his 
scholarship sound and thorough as far as he had then progressed. 
I regarded him as a very promising student, of commanding 
talents, great prudence, and amiability of disposition. He has 
sustained the character of a consistent Christian for several years. 
The vocation of teacher has been assumed by him since I left the 
college, and of his success I have no personal knowledge, but 
have every reason to believe him peculiarly well fitted for that 
responsible work. William S. Potts, 

*' Pastor Second Presb. Ch., St. Louis." 

We quote again from the Centennial catalogue : 
" The Kemper Family School was opened in 
Boonville on Monday, June 3rd, 1844, using for a 
school-room a one-story frame building standing on 
the present site of the banking-house of Aehle & 
Dunnica [at the corner of Main and Spring Streets]. 
The principal was then and for several years after 
unmarried, and his aunt, Mrs. Mary S. Allison, was 
matron of the school family. The first family resi- 
dence was a small frame house, still standing nearly 
opposite the Methodist Church (on Spring Street). 
This house being inadequate to lodge the few 
boarders Mr. Kemper brought with him, an office 
was used, which stood on or near the present site of 



128 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Weber's Agricultural Works [on the south side of 
Spring Street, between Main and Sixth]. 

" The boarding department Avas soon moved to a 
brick building, stili standing on the old Fair Grounds 
[just east of the city limits, near the river]. After a 
few v^reeks the school- room was moved to the second 
story of the [brick] building standing at the south- 
east corner of the court-house square, and now the 
residence of Rev. W. D. Mahan. It had been pre- 
viously occupied as a school-room by Mr. Jaffray, 
who sold his furniture and interest to Mr. Kemper. 

" The original course of study embraced the entire 
Cambridge course of mathematics, and the course of 
classics then cuirent in Western colleges." 

It may well excite our wonder how it was possible 
for one man to teach the alphabet and the advanced 
classics, spelling and the calculus, and all the 
grades betw^een. It matters not what may be the 
mental and physical capacity of the teacher under- 
taking it, such a thing is an impossibility. Such a 
thing has never been done successfully, and never 
can be. Herein lies one of the errors that prevail 
in our country district schools. Some influential 
man in the neighborhood has a son or a daughter 
who has passed beyond the branches appropriate to 
the preparatory district school. He insists that the 
teacher shall instruct this child in the studies of the 
high school. There are forty other pupils in the 
lower grades. These must be drilled in all the 
fundamental branches. He is fortunate if he finds 
them reducible to four grades. With four studies to 
each grade, these would give him sixteen recitations 
in a day. During the six hours of the school-day 



THE BOONVILLE BOARDING-SCHOOL. 129 

there would be an average of less than twenty-three 
minutes to each recitation, making no allowance for 
recesses. When, then, is he to teach this advanced 
pupil Latin, algebra, and the sciences ? Allowing 
this pupil four daily recitations, we find that he can 
give to each of the twenty recitations but eighteen 
minutes each, allowing himself no time for recre- 
ation, morning or afternoon. We are free to say 
that, in our judgment, no man can accomplish suc- 
cessfully such a task. 

Look at it again. Here is one pupil who has 
already received all the advantages of the district 
school, and yet claims that one fifth of the teacher's 
entire time shall be given to him ; while forty 
others, to whom the district school properly belongs, 
must content themselves with the remaining four 
fifths. That is, he who has no rights in the case 
claims ten times as much of the teacher's care and 
labor as every other pupil, for whose special benefit 
the district school is conducted. This is not only 
an injustice, as here set forth, but in its practical 
workings results either in the breaking down of the 
poorly paid and overworked teacher, or else in his 
neglecting the primary classes for the benefit of his 
advanced pupil. The State law ought to forbid the 
teaching of the high-school studies in the preparatory 
district schools. 

How was it with Mr. Kemper 1 How came he to 
undertake this impracticable task "i It was necessary 
for him to essay this work in those early days of the 
school. The attendance and the tuition fees did not, 
at first, justify his employment of help. Yet he did 
not attempt this work alone. He relieved himself in 
6* 



130 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

a way that no one but a teacher of his genius would 
have thought feasible or proper. He employed his 
pupils as assistants. But here was the peculiarity of 
his practice : he used them, not for the primary 
or fundamental branches, but for the more ad- 
vanced. We shall speak of this interesting educa- 
tional question at greater length when we treat of 
his plans as a teacher. We merely allude to the 
matter here, and state that his wisdom in this can be 
fully vindicated. It is our present purpose to give 
a history of the school in its external aspects, its 
incidents, changes, and development. 

The record of the opening day shows the at- 
tendance of only five pupils, four of whom Mr. 
Kemper brought with him from his school at Phila- 
delphia — his two cousins, William H. and Rober- 
deau Allison, sons of his uncle Henry ; Edward B. 
Dyer, of Fulton, Mo., and Isaac H. Jones, of Pal- 
myra, Mo. The Allisons remained as pupils for 
several years, and were by him trained as teachers. 
As such they have been a credit to him. It was said 
of the older brother, when he taught in the district 
schools of Lafayette County, by the intelligent and 
discriminating county commissioner, Prof. George 
M. Catron, that he was probably the best teacher in 
the country schools of that enlightened and progres- 
sive county. Mr. Dyer belonged to a well-known 
and highly esteemed family, many of whose mem- 
bers are still resident in Callaway County, and one 
of whom, Mr. Watkins, a nephew of Mr. Dyer, was 
for several years the successful head of the Ashley 
Seminary, in Pike County. Of Mr. Jones we know 
nothing. 



THE BOONVILLE BOARDING-SCHOOL. 131 

De Witt Clinton Mack has the honor of being the 
first Boonville boy to enter the school, and the only 
one for several weeks. He died long since, and his 
widow is the excellent woman whose discharge of 
the responsible duties of matron at the Fulton Synod- 
ical Female College has contributed greatly to the 
success of that popular institution. One of his 
daughters is the wife of the Rev W. E. Burke, the 
Presbyterian minister at New Bloomfield, in Cal- 
laway County. 

June 24, 1844. — John H. Hogan — "Jack" as we 
used to call him — George W. and John T. Tracy, 
William M. Quarles, Alexander B., William, Joseph, 
and Samuel B. Russell, were entered as pupils — all 
Boonville boys except the Russells, who were from 
the county adjacent. The Tracys were sons of 
Joshua L. Tracy, for many years the head of one of 
the most popular schools for girls ever established 
in Missouri. George is still living, a modest but 
honored citizen of Kirkwood. John, one of the 
writer's dearest boyhood friends, became a genial 
man of the world, a wandering cosmopolitan, fond 
of adventure, and finally died among strangers in 
South America. Peace to his ashes, and joy to his 
generous spirit! William M. Quarles became a 
physician, graduating at the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, and was regarded by his friends as a Chester- 
field in manners. He met his death as a soldier in 
the first battle of the war in Missouri, dying alone 
upon the field. The older Russells are dead, and 
Joseph and Samuel are living in Texas. 

July 16. — John and Mark Ainslie, John R. Lion- 
berger, Horace A. Hutchison, and William G, 



132 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Buckner were enrolled. John Ainslie, the son of 
English parents, was a natural gentleman. He died 
in the South. Mark was a rough, warm-hearted 
boy of ultra-sanguine temperament. We cannot 
forbear recording here an incident, very honorable 
to Mark and his mother, although it brings a blush 
to the writer's cheeks. We were both boys in our 
early teens. I was a professor of religion and a 
member of the church. Mark made no such pre- 
tensions. We were spending the night together in 
the country. Although I had been taught to pray 
before I went to bed, and felt it a Christian duty so 
to do, I was afraid that Mark would ridicule me 
should I do it in his presence. I therefore com- 
promised with my conscience by determining that I 
would attend to my devotions after I was in bed. 
Being ready first, I jumped in, and was compos- 
ing myself, when, to my great surprise and mor- 
tification, Mark said, " Jimmie, my mother has 
taught me never to neglect my prayers before I go 
to sleep. So you will please excuse me." It was 
an arrow to my heart, and I immediately arose, and 
we kneeled together to commend our souls to God, 
I acknowledged my cowardice to Mark, and thanked 
him, as I do still, for the lesson of moral courage 
which he taught me. 

George Ainslie, a third brother, now represents 
Idaho Territory in the United States Congress. John 
R. Lionberger has become one of the wealthy and 
influential citizens of St. Louis — a leader in its finan- 
cial enterprises. Horace Hutchison, or "Shad," 
as we were wont to name him, is the popular circuit 
clerk of Cooper County, a cultivated gentleman and 



/ 



THE BOONVILLE BOARDING-SCHOOL. 133 

a poet of genuine genius. "Gill" Buckner is a 
respected citizen of Brownsville. 

William D. and Howard Porteus Muir appear 
upon the register, with John Young Rankin, July 
23. William Muir became a lawyer of acknowl- 
edged talent, and was one of the most elegant 
gentlemen of Boonville up to the time of his early 
death. '* Ports" never returned from the Southern 
struggle, and now sleeps in a soldier' s grave. John 
Rankin was noted for his big foot and bigger heart. 
He went to Texas. 

September 2. — John B. Holman and Leonidas Mo- 
reau Lawson became pupils. John Holman is now 
a successful practitioner of medicine in Boonville. 
"Lon" Lawson entered the school September, 1844, 
and continued to enjoy its privileges until June, 1 85 1 . 
He taught the advanced classes during the school 
year of 1851-52. He was, without doubt, Mr. 
Kemper's favorite pupil during the long period of 
his attendance, and well did he deserve the honor- 
able distinction. He was the son of a poor but 
very intelligent and worthy gentleman, whose busi- 
ness was that of a cabinet workman. He was very 
carefully raised by his parents, who were naturally 
and properly proud of him. He was always facile 
pi'inceps in his classes. Indeed there was no one to 
dispute his acknowledged pre-eminence in all the 
branches of the full college course, which he pur- 
sued under Mr. Kemper. He seemed to have no 
special talent, or rather he had a mind which readily 
grasped and mastered every subject which it under- 
took. His was a mind among a million. He was 
equally apt in all the athletic sports of the play- 



134 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

ground. He could run faster, jump higher, strike a 
ball better, swim and skate more gracefully than 
any of us, whom he distanced in the school-room. 
He was a manly, courageous boy. The writer re- 
members well one occasion, when, in this, he was 
sorely tried. We were in the woods near the branch 
when a difficulty arose between him and several of 
the boys. He w^as alone, and more than one of his 
antagonists were older, stronger, larger than him- 
self. One of these, backed by the rest, attacked 
him. He saw that resistance was useless. With a 
calm courage and an unblanched cheek, he received 
the blows, refusing to strike in return, and as steadily 
refusing to do what they were seeking to force him 
to do, until they saw that he was more than a match 
for them all, and they left him, the undaunted victor 
upon the field. We have never witnessed a sub- 
limer display of heroism. As a speaker he was 
without a parallel in the history of the school. In 
matter thoughtful, and in manner graceful in 
gesture and eloquent in diction. He was the para- 
gon of the school, the pride of the teacher, and the 
beau-ideal of his fellow -pupils. He went to the State 
University, entered the senior class, and although 
crippled by a spell of serious sickness, he was gradu- 
ated with the highest honor in 1853. He was at 
once called to a professorship in William Jewell 
College, and during its incumbency he studied 
law, and was in due time admitted to the bar. He 
rose rapidly in his profession, and was soon sent, 
though quite young, to the Legislature of the State 
from Platte County, by a majority very much greater 
than that of his colleague on the same ticket. Very 



THE BOONVILLE BOARDING-SCHOOL. 135 

much to the surprise and disappointment of many 
of his friends, who looked forward to his reaping 
the highest honors in the political preferments of 
the Republic, he turned abruptly from the blooming, 
beckoning path of professional and intellectual fame 
that opened before him, and gave his splendid powers 
to a life of financial enterprise. In this he has suc- 
ceeded, and he is now a member of the substantial 
firm of Donnell, Lawson & Simpson, bankers, of 
Broadway, New York, whose business connections 
extend from London, England, to San Antonio, 
Texas. 

October 17.— Henry C. Hayden entered the school. 
He was the son of Peyton R. Hayden, one of the 
most popular lawyers of the Boonville bar, the com- 
peer of Abiel Leonard, John G. Miller, J. B. Garden- 
hire, Washington Adams — all men of the first repute 
in their profession. Henry was a talented boy, and 
much respected by his school associates. The most 
serious difficulty which occurred in the school, the 
first ten years of its establishment, was in connection 
with him. Those who witnessed it have never been 
able to forget it. It occurred at the noon recess, and 
was considered by Mr. Kemper of so serious a char- 
acter that he spent the afternoon in a solemn lecture 
to us on the subject. Henry never attended the school 
again. It was feared that it might prove his ruin, 
and that he and his teacher would never be friends 
again. But it proved otherwise. Though for some 
years he was not what he might have been, he was 
given what is the grown man's greatest earthly bless- 
ing, a wise and faithful wife. He became an earnest, 
consistent Christian, and in Fulton first and at St. Louis 



136 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

afterward he rose to competence and eminence as a 
lawyer, and at his death was regarded one of the 
ablest advocates in Missouri, His career shows that 
it is possible to retrieve the errors of one's youth, and 
thus to pluck victory from disaster. The triumph is 
all the grander when it is so achieved, and reminds 
us of the words of the singer of the " Psalm of Life," 

" Nor deem the irrevocable past 
As wholly wasted, wholly vain, 
If, rising on its wreck at last, 
To something nobler we attain." 

During his manhood Henry was one of Mr. Kem- 
per's stanchest friends. 

This closes the record of the first term, during 
which thirty-three pupils in all were enrolled. It 
seems a strange time for it to begin and end. The 
arrangement was doubtless due to Mr. Kemper's un- 
willingness to spend his first summer at Boonville in 
idleness. 

The second session began November 25th, 1844. 
The records show an attendance of sixty-five during 
the term. Among these were Henry L. McPherson, 
for many years a pilot on the Missouri and after- 
ward the captain of several steamers on the same 
river, now an enterprising railroad builder, one of the 
most chivalrous, noble-hearted men that Boonville 
has ever known ; Henry C. Gibson, for many years, 
and now, a successful physician at Boonville; Benj. 
F. Gibson, the doctor's brother, a farmer, who should 
not be allowed to sit on his load of hay while it is on 
the scales, for a reason that every acquaintance will 
appreciate ; Robert Ruxton, a boarding pupil, a can- 
ny Scotchman, an intelligent, substantial gentleman, a 



THE BOONVILLE BOARDING-SCHOOL. 137 

subsequent teacher in Saline County, who wrote to his 
former preceptor: — "Mr. Kemper, what a fearful 
state of ignorance I have been living in for the last 
twenty years ! And for what reason ? Because I had 
not Webster's Dictionary. I tell you, sir, if I was de- 
prived of this invaluable book, I would ride three 
hundred and fifty miles any time to read what he 
says about the letter A. And surely I would ride a 
thousand miles for the privilege of reading an hour 
in any other part of it " — a major in the Confederate 
service, an ardent admirer of his old teacher; Joseph 
C. Terrell, for a long time now a prominent lawyer at 
Fort Worth, in the Lone Star State; John W. Houx, 
a boy and a man that every acquaintance likes, 
one of the original settlers, and now a prominent 
merchant of Sedalia ; John Y. Leveridge, the execu- 
tive officer, as secretary of the Fair Association of 
Kansas City; J. A. Quarles, who was matriculated 
February 18, 1845, and continued a pupil until June, 
1854. 

"The first building for the use of the school was 
erected during the summer of 1845. The ground was 
purchased of Solomon Houck, May 20 of that year. 
It had a frontage on Third Street of one hundred and 
twenty feet. The building then erected, which con- 
stitutes the right front of the present main building, 
was put up by a joint stock company, with the under- 
standing that Mr. Kemper was to purchase their 
stock in the course of time. This was promptly 
done." Before the removal to these premises, the 
family lived for some time in the frame building on 
the south-east corner of Main and Chestnut streets, 
which is still standing. We remember this fact dis- 



138 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

tinctly, although Mr. Kemper does not aUiide to it in 
the centennial catalogue. 

This first building on the grounds, which have 
since become historic as the permanent seat of the in- 
stitution, was a two-story brick, having two rooms 
and a hall or entry below, and three rooms above. 
The first floor was for the family. The room in the 
south-west corner above was Mr. Kemper's bedroom. 
By the side of this, in the south-east corner, was 
a small recitation-room. On the north was the main 
school-room, approached by an outdoor stairvA^ay on 
the west side of the building. Every survivor can 
doubtless recall our pleasurable emotions on the 
day when we were transferred from the corner of the 
court-house square to these new, more comfortable, 
and, as we thought, elegant quarters. The exact date 
we cannot recall, and as it is not recorded we do 
not know. It was probably early in the fall of 

1845- 

The third session began June 2, 1845, and although 
held during the heated term, witnessed the enrol- 
ment of fifty-six pupils. Among the new ones were : 
James Preston Beck, who was sent to Mr. Kemper 
an orphan boy from Lexington, Mo. He gave 
his teacher more than usual trouble, though he was 
intelligent and capable. He afterward was sent east, 
and was graduated in law at Harvard, and also in 
medicine at some Eastern institution. He became an 
elegant, cultured person, and was the hero of a ro- 
mantic courtship in connection with his second mar- 
riage. Tyre C. Harris, afterward, in 1847, a teach-er 
of the school. He became a Baptist minister. The 
records of that large and influential church doubtless 



THE BOONVILLE BOARDING-SCHOOL. 139 

contain the name of no contemporary in Missouri 
who stood so high with his own brethren and the 
outside community as Tyre Harris. He was cut down 
in the flower of his manhood, but honors had crowded 
thick upon him, and before him lay the promise of a 
life of distinguished usefulness. Charley Cope, Henry 
Marquis, William Henry Rector, and W. Woodfin are 
known as matriculates of this session. 

We stop here, for the reason that the school entering 
its own building chose for itself a new name. Up to 
the close of this term it was called "The Boonville 
Boarding School." Henceforth for some years it 
was known as "The Male Collegiate Institute." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE OF BOONVILLE. 

" That heart, methinks, 
Were of strange mould, which kept no cherished print 
Of earlier, happier times, when life was fresh, 
And love and innocence made holyday : 
Or that owned 

No transient sadness when a dream, a glimpse 
Of fancy touched past joys." Hillhouse. 

The fourth semi-annual session of the school 
now known as The Male Collegiate Institute, 
began November 24th, 1845, and its register shows 
an attendance of sixty-six pupils. J. Wellington 
Draffen was one of these. Mr. Draifen is still a 
resident of Boonville, and is a proof that the 
Jewish proverb, "No prophet is without honor 
save in his own country," has its exceptions, or is 
misinterpreted when it is made to affirm that true 
merit may not be and is not often recognized by 
those most familiar with its possessor. He has not 
shown himself a genius of eagle wing, able to fly to 
heavenly heights of eminence by a few bold strokes 
of its majestic pinions. But while his upward march 
has been the slow and toilsome progress of the 
climber up the steep and rugged mountain-side, in 
this he has displayed traits of character no less noble 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 141 

and sublime, and his proud position to-day, as one 
of the foremost lawyers of Central Missouri, shows 
the substantial stuff of which he is made. John R. 
Woodfin is another, and was one of the most assid- 
uous and successful students of the higher branches 
in these early days. He went to California across 
the plains a few years after this, and it was remarked, 
in allusion to very unusual natural endowments 
which suggested the conceit, that he used one of his 
ears as a mattress and the other as sufficient covering 
in the nightly camping on the way. 

The fifth term began May 11, 1846, and shows 
an attendance of seventy-one pupils. Of those en- 
rolled for the first time we observe the name of 
James B. Harris. He was an older brother of the 
Rev. Tyre C. Harris, and along with him was an 
assistant teacher in the year 1847, twelve months 
from this date. He still lives in Callaway County, 
and has represented his senatorial district in the State 
Legislature to the satisfaction of his constituents. 
He was the presiding student at the reunion in 
1874. John Dow, the popular and the irrepressible, 
and A. H. C. Koontz are new names on the roll. 
Hiram Koontz was, as he is now, a positive charac- 
ter. He was a very ardent and ultra temperance 
man during the days of the Billy Ross excitement. 
He thought that Mr. Kemper was too conservative 
on the great issue of that day. Since then he has 
doubtless seen that our teacher was wiser than he. 

The sixth semi-annual session began September 
21, 1846. Seventy-five pupils were entered during 
the term. William Brown was one of these. He 
was one of the marked students of the school. 



142 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Obedience to its regulations and earnest in his en- 
deavors for self-improvement, he always stood high 
in the estimation of his teacher. Having removed to 
Jacksonville, Illinois, he studied law, and has there 
practised his profession with eminent success ever 
since. He has been honored by his fellow-citizens 
with several important positions of trust, and has 
been favorably mentioned as a suitable person to fill 
the Governor's chair in that imperial State of the in- 
terior. He is now assistant solicitor-general of the 
Wabash Railroad, having charge of all its legal busi- 
ness east of the Mississippi River. Leonidas Boyle 
belongs to this year. He was the son of one of the 
best men that ever loved the Saviour and served his 
fellow-men in Missouri, the Rev. Joseph Boyle, D.D. 
''Lon" was a wayward boy, but of open heart and 
generous disposition. His life was a checkered one. 
He became a Methodist minister, and is now dead. 
John L. O'Bryan entered at this time. His father, 
Jordan O'Bryan, was one of the most respected 
citizens of Cooper County in those days, and John 
is now one of its leading public men. David Gib- 
son and Boyle Hayden were two of the good boys 
of the school. Dave was a little mischievous and 
rather fond of sly fun. It was he who was so full 
of life that on one occasion he whistled aloud in 
school. Upon being called to account for it, he very 
naively replied, "Mr. Kemper, I didn't whistle; it 
just whistled itself." This reminds us of another 
ridiculous incident that occurred in connection with 
Sam Russell, one of the pupils of the first term. 
While the teacher was calling the roll, Sam was busy 
relating to a neighbor an adventure he had had a 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 143 

short time before. Being very intent upon his story, 
he had not observed that the time was approaching 
for him to answer. Just as Mr. Kemper called his 
name, he was in the act of saying " screech-owl" in 
his narrative, and so there rang out upon the solemn 
air of the school-room, from the teacher, "Samuel 
Russell," and the response, "Screech-owl!" Sam 
was like Dave, he could hardly realize that he had 
said it. Mr. Kemper could scarcely believe his ears. 
But it was unmistakably so, and all, from teacher 
down, except Sam, laughed in hearty chorus. Eli- 
sha S. Rector belongs to this period. 

Up to this time, so far as the records show and our 
information goes, there were no regular assistants 
who gave their whole time to the work of teaching. 
Here was a school of seventy-one pupils of various 
grades to be instructed by a single teacher. We nat- 
urally say that it was impossible, and so indeed it 
was. While we cannot recall who the helpers were, 
we distinctly remember that Mr. Kemper always- 
freely used his older and better trained pupils as as- 
sistants, giving them those classes which needed the 
least drilling and control. In this way, we were 
sure, he met the exigencies of the school. As a 
straw confirming this view, it is a matter of record 
that, during this last term, John O'Bryan, Frank 
Chilton, and Well. Draffen were the regularly deputed 
penmakers of the school. We may infer from this 
that they were good whittlers. It may be that some 
of our children may not understand why there should 
have been penmakers. It is possible that some of 
them have never seen nor heard of an old quill pen. 
Be it known unto you, then, dear children, that in 



144 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

those good old times of which you have heard your 
grandfathers speak, but which we hardly think that 
even they would wish to see come again, steel pens 
and gold pens were unknown. The geese must be 
plucked, not only to furnish feather-beds on which 
poor humanity sweltered during the days of the dog- 
star, but also that their quills might be used for 
pens. It was one of the necessities of the teacher's 
profession that he should know how to cut a quilL 
He might be ignorant of arithmetic and grammar, 
but he must know how to make a pen. Moreover, 
w^hen a quill was once fashioned into a pen, it had a 
naughty way of not remaining so. It was in con- 
stant need of repairing, especially when used by the 
unskilled fingers of those learning to write. Imagine 
now one man, in addition to teaching mathematics, 
and the classics, and the three R's to seventy-one pu- 
pils, undertaking to make and mend pens for them ! 
We can easily see that Mr. Kemper was wise in call- 
ing his pupils to the rescue, and that Draffen, Chilton, 
and O'Bryan did not have a sinecure. We wonder 
whether they can make, or as the Germans say, cut^ a 
pen now. 

In the fall term of 1846, beginning Sept. 21, Mr. 
Kemper determined to have regular help. Accord- 
ingly he made arrangements to that effect with James 
B. and Tyre C. Harris, two of his former pupils. 
Mr. Kemper occupied the main school-room, and 
supervised and directed the movements of the entire 
body of pupils. Tyre Plarris met his classes in Mr. 
Kemper's bedroom, and James B. Harris his in the 
other small recitation-room. 

In the fall term of this arrangement, seventy-five 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 145 

pupils were enrolled; and in the spring session, be- 
ginning March 8th, 1847, there were sixty-six. Mrs. 
Kemper found among the papers this interesting 
statement : " Gross income of Kemper, Harris and 
Harris for first session of their partnership, ending 
March 2, 1847, $655.35. Second session, ending 6th 
of Aug., 1847, I551.76." This is a total of $1207.11 
for three men, for teaching an average of seventy 
pupils for an entire school year. It shows us that 
either many of the pupils failed to pay, or that the 
average charge did not exceed twenty dollars for 
each one. 

Among the names of this spring term of 1847 
we find Edw. H. Harris. He was not of the same 
family as the teachers. He is now the head of an 
interesting family, most of the children grown, and 
is a prosperous merchant and farmer at Pilot Grove, 
in Cooper County. He has a son whom he is proud 
to call Frederick Kemper Harris. Hardage L. An- 
drews was a pupil for several years, and is now a 
resident of California. William M. Givens was one of 
the most mature pupils that ever attended the school. 
He was successful in his studies, then attended the 
medical lectures, and is now a physician at Gallatin, 
Mo. 

The eighth session opened Sept. 13, 1847, and is 
credited with fifty-five pupils. At this time we first 
find a daily record kept of every boy's lessons, ab- 
sence, etc. The partnership with the Harris brothers 
did not continue longer than a year, so that Mr. 
Kemper was now again doing the whole work, with 
the help of his pupils. We see that the time for be- 
ginning the school year has been gradually changed, 
7 



146 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

until it is now brought to corresppnd with the cus- 
tom of other schools. This was a wise movement, 
for the manifest reason that it gave to teacher and 
pupil their period of rest during the enervating days 
of summer. 

The ninth session, beginning Feburary 21, 1848, 
enrolled fifty-four pupils. Jeff. B. McCutchen died 
from wounds received at the first battle of Boonville. 
We sigh as we think of him cut down in the early 
promise of his manhood. Oberon A. Kueckelhan 
was the son of Dr. A. Kueckelhan, a graduate in 
medicine from one of the universities of the Father- 
land, and one of the most skilled physicians of Mis- 
souri. Obe is a farmer near Boonville. W. C. P. 
Townsley — "Chan" we called him — was an intelli- 
gent and orderly boy, standing well in tlie regard of 
his teacher and fellow-pupils. He became a carriage- 
maker, and worked at this business until the war. 
He prosecuted the study of the law while thus en- 
gaged, and surprised many of his friends by his sud- 
den and unexpected appearance at the bar. He was 
given the commission as judge of the Lafayette 
Judicial Circuit of Missouri, and despite his inexperi- 
ence and the general dissatisfaction at the manner of 
his entering upon the bench, he made a respectable 
record as a jurist. He is now in Kansas. His 
brother, Leopold M. Townsley, is a dentist. 

There were forty-two enrolled during the tenth 
session, which began September nth, 1848. During 
this term cnere first appears upon the register one of 
the worthiest names connected with the history of the 
school. It is that of Edward Roberson Taylor. His 
father was from Tennessee, and a cabinet workman 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 147 

of slender means. He did not live many years after 
he settled his family in Boonville. Edward was thus 
left, an only son, with several sisters to the care of 
his widowed mother. He continued to prosecute his 
studies Avith very honorable success, always main- 
taining a position among the foremost of his class. 
Although quite young, he had studied the higher 
mathematics and read a fair course in the Latin and 
Greek classics before he was compelled to leave 
school to aid in the support of the family. He entered 
the tobacco factory of Mr. David Spahr, and began 
work as a stemmer. He soon held other, higher, 
and more responsible positions in the factory. This 
life, however, did not suit him, and he entered a 
printing-office, and began to learn " the art preserva- 
tive of all arts," in the composing-rooms of the 
Boonville Observer. A. W. Simpson was then the edi- 
tor, and the paper was recognized as one of the ablest 
organs of the Whig party in the State. Edward's in- 
telligence, industry, and trustworthiness brought him 
rapid promotion, and before he was twenty-one years 
of age he was the foreman of one of the best conducted 
printing-offices in the West. During this time he 
wrote several poems, which were highly commended 
by judicious critics. The family then removed to 
California, and Edward studied medicine, taking the 
doctor's degree. In this, as in everything else, he was 
a very diligent and successful student. He was the 
author of several able articles, which were published 
in the medical journals, and attracted the favorable 
notice of his professional brethren. He tired, how- 
ever, of medicine. He became the private secretary 
of Governor Haight, and received license to practise 



148 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

law. He is now of the firm of Taylor & Haight, at- 
torneys-at-law, San Francisco. He still at irregular 
periods cultiv^ates the muse of poetry, and contributes 
to this volume one of its chief attractions. T. C. 
Davis belongs here. " Kink " was our name for him, 
in allusion to his curly head. 

There were only thirty-five pupils in attendance 
upon the spring session, which opened February 
26, 1849. As this is one of the smallest aggre- 
gates for any term, we make it the occasion for say- 
ing that it does not indicate a waning in the popu- 
larity of the school. The most thoroughly established 
institutions in the land have their ebb and flow, pro- 
duced by a number of conspiring causes. But in 
addition to this, and far more important in the his- 
tory of the Kemper school, is the fact that its founder 
and head was always favorable to a small and select 
school, never desiring more than he could himself 
personally teach and control. From his journal 
we know that he limited his number this year to 
thirty. This may seem strange to some, but his wis- 
dom in it will be shown when we discuss his princi- 
ples and plans as a teacher. ' 

Horace Bingham, the eldest son of the distinguish- 
ed painter, G. C. Bingham, was one of the matricu- 
lates of this term. Frank Lionberger, the artist of 
Boonville, was another. James Porter, of the Boon- 
ville ferry, was another. Lewis Miller, the son of 
the Hon. John G. Miller, one of the ablest and purest 
public men that Missouri has ever sent to Washing- 
ton City, was another. Lewis became a lawyer, re- 
moved to Saline, married an accomplished lady, and 
died a few years since. James P. Dow, who lives on 



, MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 149 

an island in the Missouri River above Boonvilie, 
"monarch of all he surveys," belongs to this period. 
James Madison Byler is still another. No pupil of 
this period of the school can ever forget Byler and 
his pony. As there was congenital malformation of 
both hands and feet, the pony was indispensable, and 
he was therefore as regular an attendant as was his 
master. Byler was very proud of " Pony," and took 
pleasure in descanting upon his excellent traits. One 
day he told us that there was one sure mark of afast- 
gaited horse, and then pointed to Pony to show us that 
he had it. Pony, if urged, could gallop probably four 
miles in an hour. He was a sorrel, and wore his hair 
short behind. Byler was a good student. That Mr. 
Kemper regarded him with favor is clearly shown in 
his employment of him as an assistant in 1851. He is 
now a real-estate agent at the flourishing young city 
of Sedalia. 

The twelfth session witnessed the enrolment of 
sixty-three pupils. It began September 10, 1849. 
Among the number were William B. and Richard 
A. Hening. The Hening boys were sons of the Rev. 
John A. Hening, an able, pious, but somewhat eccen- 
tric Methodist minister. Dick was a sprightly boy, 
industrious, intelligent, inquisitive. Many of the 
old pupils will probably remember his peculiar ren- 
deringof Longfellow's '' Excelsior," a favorite piece 
for declamation. The support of his father's family 
soon devolved upon him. He accepted the trust as 
a brave, true man, removing to Neosho, in Newton 
County, that he might more successfully meet its re- 
sponsibilities, and there he has since died. 



150 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Mrs. Kemper sends the following item connected 
with this term : 

" Should the education of females be equal to that 
of the males ? 

^^ Aff. — Givens, Quarles, Mack, Taylor, Dow, M, 
Ainslie. 

'' Neg. — Torbert, Lawson, Mitchell, J. Ainslie, 
Tucker, Morton." 

As it has been the writer's lot to preside over the 
education of girls during the best years of his life, 
he is gratified to find that in his boyhood (for he 
was only twelve years of age then) he was the advo- 
cate of woman's right to a full participation in the 
privileges of a thorough education. The strength of 
truth was on the side of the affirmative, but the 
heavy guns of debate were with the negative. Tor- 
bert and Lawson were the orators of the school. J. 
W. Torbert is another of the most distinguished 
pupils that the school has known. He was a 
faithful student, and eagerly ambitious for self-im- 
provement. He was far more mature in years than 
the rest of us. At this time he was probably nearly 
or quite twenty-one years of age. He was invited 
while a pupil to take charge of the city public school, 
and accepted the trust. He was specially gifted as a 
speaker. Of commanding appearance, having a fine 
voice, great fertility of thought, affluence of speech, 
and grace of movement, he was a natural orator, 
capable of commanding the attention of any audi- 
ence he might address. There were lively times in 
the Boonville Lyceum when he and John H. Hening, 
Esq., were pitted in debate against each other. They 
were both vigorous thinkers and effective speakers. 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 151 

Torbert threw himself into politics, was very popular 
upon the stump, and was sent by Taylor or Fillmore 
as consul to the Island of St. Thomas, we believe, 
and there died. If he had lived to middle age there 
is hardly a doubt that he would have left behind him 
a name historic in the annals of his country. 

The thirteenth semi-annual term began February 
25, 1850, and during its continuance fifty-seven 
names were registered. For the next school year, 
embracing the fourteenth and fifteenth sessions, the 
records have been lost, and we have no means now of 
ascertaining how many were enrolled, nor the names 
of particular pupils. As yet the custom of publish- 
ing an annual catalogue had not begun. 

In 185 1 the school building was improved by an 
addition, which nearly doubled its capacity. It was 
put up as an ell to the front building, already de- 
scribed, at the north-west corner, inclosing in a hall 
the steps leading to the second story. This improve- 
ment was necessary for the accommodation of those 
who wished to avail themselves of the benefits of 
the school. We are satisfied, however, that Mr. 
Kemper's own judgment did not approve this en- 
largement. He was always favorable to a small 
school. We must bear in mind that he was still, and 
for several years longer, a bachelor, and that the 
enlargement was not for boarders, but for an increased 
attendance of day pupils. The addition had a hall 
and one large room on each of its two floors. Mr. 
Kemper took the intermediate pupils into the lower 
room, James M. Byler was given the primaries in 
the old school-room, and L. M. Lawson took charge 



.152 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER, 

of the most advanced classes in the upper room of 
the new building. 

From statements made in his journal we learn 
that this improvement cost about three thousand 
dollars, and that he was expected to pay for it within 
three years. The centennial catalogue tells us that 
it was put up by a joint -stock company, with the 
understanding that Mr. Kemper was to purchase the 
interest of the other stockholders. This he doubt- 
less did to a great degree by educating the sons of 
those who had taken stock. We know from his 
journal that before he had occupied the building a 
year he had paid more than seven hundred dollars 
upon it. 

The year succeeding this improvement of the 
premises is noted in showing the largest attendance 
in the history of the school. In the fall term there 
were enrolled one hundred and twenty-seven pupils, 
and in the spring one hundred and twenty-one. 
These were large numbers for three teachers to 
handle. They were well graded, however, and in 
those days the range of studies was not as extensive 
as now. The largest proportion was under Mr. 
Kemper's personal care, and the smallest in Law- 
son's room. 

During the first term of the eighth year, beginning 
September 8, 1851, Elijah Workman's name appears. 
He was the son of English parents, who lived near 
the upper landing for steamboats. They did not 
tarry long in Boonville, but soon removed to Cali- 
fornia, where they have since resided. Charley 
Reinhart is still in Boonville, with a pleasant smile 
and a hearty shake of the hand for any of the old 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 153 

pupils he may meet. Leverett Leonard, the son of 
one of the best farmers that ever tilled the soil and 
improved the stock of Cooper County, carries on a 
magnificent farm in Saline, the banner county of 
the State for the richness of its soil. Leverett 
was graduated at Dartmouth College and studied law, 
but prefers the more quiet and independent life of 
the husbandman. 

During the spring term, beginning February 9, 
1852, William Workman became a pupil. With his 
name there comes to us a throng of pleasant memories. 
He was one of the best of boys. Simple, unaffected, 
generous, true, we loved him as though he had been 
a brother. In those days his family was poor. As 
already stated, they went to California, and have there 
become wealthy, owning extensive orange and lemon 
groves, fig orchards, and vineyards in Los Angeles. 
We sometimes wonder whether money has contracted 
or expanded the noble sympathies of his nature. We 
should love to meet him again ; but, if not here, then 
we hope to do so in the amaranthine bowers of the 
upper Paradise, more beautiful, more fragrant, more 
perennial than the orange groves of his California 
home. David Lionberger belongs here ; he was the 
youngest of five brothers, all of whom were pupils — 
John R., De Witt C, Frank, William, and himself. 
Their father was for many years one of the prominent 
citizens of Cooper County. David studied medicine, 
and went to Paris to perfect himself in his profession. 
But his delicate constitution soon yielded to disease, 
and he filled an early grave. Ralph Augustus Quarles 
entered during this session. He and Dr. William M. 
and J. A. Quarles were all sons of Colonel James 

7* 



154 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Quarles, who became a citizen of Cooper County in 
1836. Himself a teacher in early life, he prized the 
advantages of education, and gave to all three of his 
sons both a collegiate and professional course. Au- 
gustus went to Westminster College, and then to 
the medical school. Since his graduation he has 
practised his profession in the city of St. Louis. 

The ninth year opened September 20th, 1852, and 
during its first term one hundred and ten pupils were 
registered. Scott Benedict, one of the best boys of 
the school, was of this number. He went to Califor- 
nia. John M. Weidemeyer is another. He was one 
of the most athletic boys that ever graced the cam- 
pus of a school. He excelled in all kinds of sport, 
but was specially proficient at foot-ball, where activity, 
strength, and endurance were all required. He was 
one of the most popular students of the school — popu- 
lar with his teacher and loved by his associates. He 
bore a captain's commission under the Confederacy, 
and, we are sure, was a gallant soldier. He is now 
an enterprising merchant at Clinton, Mo. William 
Wyan Trigg, instinctively a modest, refined gentle- 
man, and Beverly Bunce are pupils of this period. 
Beverly Bunce has reason to remember the writer of 
this volume. We were playing bandy. The writer 
had a stick, on the curve of which a hollow bone had 
been fastened, to give it weight. He had gotten pos- 
session of the ball on a part of the field where there 
was no one to interfere with him. He prepared, 
therefore, to give the ball the heaviest possible stroke. 
Beverly was standing right in front to intercept it. 
When the stroke was made, the bone flew from the 
stick, hit Beverly squarely in the forehead, and he 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 155 

fell as if he had been shot. The striker feared that 
he had killed him. But fortunately the skull is 
thick there, and no serious damage was sustained. 
During the war we saw a Southern soldier, at the 
battle of Glasgow, with a Minie ball imbedded in 
his forehead, and yet he was walking around and 
joking merrily about it. 

During the second term there were enrolled 
eighty-two pupils. William B. Napton, Jr., the son 
of the distinguished jurist of the same name, was 
one of these. He became a lawyer, and practised for 
some years in Kansas City. He has now retired to 
his farm in Saline County. David W. Thompson. 
Joseph S. RobersonandJamesC.Wood,allfrom Pettis 
County, belong to this time. Dave was a steady, 
studious boy. Jo and Jim were rollicking fellows. 
Jo was smart, and witty, and handsome, and generous, 
and popular. He and Jim were both fonder of the 
girls than of their books. Jim lost his heart at Mr. 
Tracy's, and Jo his at Mr. Bell's. It was love, how- 
ever, that did not ripen in either case. Jo went 
West, and we have lost him; but no friend on this 
broad earth has a greener place in our memory than 
this same light-hearted, frank, impulsive, noble Jo. 

The winter of 1853 marks an era in the history of 
the school, from the fact that an effort was then 
made to convert it into a college. For this purpose 
the following charter was secured from the Legis- 
lature of Missouri: — 

"An Act to incorporate Boonville College. 
"Whereas, the school known as The Boonville Male Colle- 
giate Institute, located in Boonville, Cooper County, has sus 
tained itself for many years, has fitted pupils for high standing in 



156 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

the advanced classes of the best colleges, and has been supplied 
by its founder, F. T. Kemper, with suitable buildings and fixt- 
ures ; and whereas, it is desired by the community sustaining 
said school to erect it into a college, which shall, in addition to 
the usual routine of literary and professional instruction, have 
normal and agricultural schools for the special education of 
farmers and teachers ; the whole to be no engine of any sect, and 
responsible to no ecclesiastical judicature, and yet remaining as 
heretofore, under Presbyterian influence ; therefore, 
" Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as 
follows : 

"Section i. That John G. Miller, James Quarles, John Col- 
houn, William H. Trigg, James Walter, E. W. Brown, Jordan 
O'Bryan, Smith Walker, Caleb Jones, James M. Nelson, C. L. 
Loomis, Jeremiah Rice, Richard T. Jacobs, F. T. Kemper, 
Chester Brewster, William G. Bell, F. W. G. Thomas, and Elisha 
Stanley, are hereby constituted a body corporate, under the 
name and style of ' Boonville College ;' shall have perpetual suc- 
cession and a common seal ; and, in their corporate capacity, 
may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be 
defended in all courts and places whatsoever. 

" Sec. 2. Said Board of Trustees shall have power to receive, 
acquire, recover, and hold any money, or real, or personal estate 
that may be granted, donated, or devised for the use of said in- 
stitution ; and may purchase and dispose of property, in such 
manner as will best promote the object of their organization. 

" Sec. 3. Said corporation shall have power to confer all the 
literary honors or degrees, conferred by similar institutions, and 
to create such other degrees as may best promote the education 
of agriculturalists and professional teachers for common and high 
schools. 

" Sec. 4. Said Board of Trustees is hereby empowered to ap- 
point a faculty, the president of which shall be, ex-officio, 
president of the Board of Trustees ; and to appoint other officers 
and tutors as the interest of the institution may require. They 
may also displace the same, and make such by-laws and reg- 
ulations as will further the interests of the college, provided 
they be not inconsistent with the law of the land. 

" Sec. 5. Said corporation shall have power to displace mem- 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 157 

bers of their own body, who shall become disqualified for duty 
by age, infirmity, or otherwise, or who shall fail to perform 
their duties from neglect of the interests of the institution, 

" This act to take effect from its passage. 

"Approved February 12, 1853." 

As is manifest from the charter, the design was to 
make a college for the special benefit of farmers and 
teachers. Mr. Kemper himself was both, and he 
took the liveliest interest in the agricultural classes 
as well as in teachers. His favorite idea, however, 
was the normal college. We must remember that at 
that time there was none such in Missouri, and but 
very few in this country. It was his great ambition 
to inaugurate such a scheme in connection with his 
school in Boonville. We have before us an elaborate 
report on the subject prepared by him and submitted 
to those who were interested in Boonville College. 
In it he first states and elaborates the proposition, 
that '^ education should be a professional business," 
"a learned profession," "that teachers should be 
professionally educated." He then suggests "a plan 
for a school of pedagogics." " We think," he says, 
" a three years' course of professional training, after 
leaving college, as little as the wants of the true 
teacher will admit. ... In three departments of 
study and practice. The first scientific, the second 
educational, the third practical exercise in teaching. 
. . . In the scientific department we would have 
teachers not only to review, but greatly extend their 
inquiries. ... 2. The educational department. 
Here let the embryo teacher learn the nature, the 
history, and the present state of education. Let him 
study how to govern a school and control his tern- 



158 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

per ; how to exemplify, before his pupils and the 
world, the wisdom, and knowledge, and moral virtue 
which he is to inculcate. Let him study school ar- 
chitecture, the laws of health, the true relation of the 
teacher to his pupils, to the other professions, and 
to society ; and last, though not least, the economics 
of his profession, or the way to make it pay. . . . 
3. We would attach to the college a preparatory de- 
partment, in which all theories on education should 
be brought to the test of experiment, and in which 
the results of the wisest investigations might be em- 
ployed in fitting children for future collegiate and 
business life " 

As an additional incentive to professional excel- 
lence, he proposes, with reference to the normal 
graduate, " Having started him out, a man of real 
learning and skill in his business, let him, after 
teaching three years, if he demonstrates his success, 
be counted worthy the degree of Doctor of Fhilos- 
ophyy 

One hundred thousand dollars, in addition to the 
endowment of the college, he thinks would put such 
a school on a solid foundation ; and he suggests 
that it be raised " by subscriptions of one dollar each 
from the patriotic and Christian ladies of our beloved 
country." 

There has been preserved one of these original 
subscription lists. The heading was written by Mr. 
Kemper. It is : — 

" We, whose names are affixed, agree to pay the 
sums opposite to our names respectively to the Treas- 
urer of Boonville College, for the purpose of endow- 
ing the ' School of Professional Teachers in Boon- 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 159 

ville College.' July 18, '53. ~A. H. Bailey, $1.00 ; A. 
S. Jefferson, |i.oo ; E. J. Slack, li.oo ; G. S. Johnson, 
li.oo; M. McFariand, li.oo; S. B. Hammond, |i 00." 

The plan for endowing the college proper was the 
one which at that time was quite popular in 'Mis- 
souri, by means of scholarships. There were to be 
six hundred, at one hundred dollars each. They were 
transferable. A single scholarship entitled its holder 
to sixteen years of tuition in the regular collegiate, 
or collegiate and preparatory course. A half scholar- 
ship gave four years' tuition. A scholarship and a 
half entitled its owner to eight years in the prepara- 
tory department, in addition to the sixteen years of 
the single scholarship. Three scholarships gave the 
right to perpetual tuition. 

Boonville College was never put into operation. 
There is no allusion to the scheme in his journal. 
We seriously question whether, outside of the nor- 
mal features, Mr. Kemper ever had any very great 
interest in the project. It failed, probably because 
it was found impracticable to raise the means neces- 
sary for its endowment. At that time the Masons, 
at Lexington; the Methodists, at Fayette; the Bap- 
tists, at Liberty ; and the Presbyterians, at Fulton and 
Richmond, having founded colleges, were endeavor- 
ing to raise the funds for their maintenance. Another 
non-sectarian college, "yet remaining under Presby- 
terian influence," was impracticable. While we do 
not know it to be so, it is our opinion that Mr. Bell, 
the pastor of the Presbyterian Church, and a man of 
intelligent enterprise, was really the prime mover of 
the scheme. He was the president of the board of 
trustees. 



i6o THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER, 

We ail should rejoice that no college was institut- 
ed. Missouri has of them all that will be needed 
probably for a hundred years to come. But it has no 
other school which has done or can do the work ac- 
complished by the Family School or academy of Mr. 
Kemper. We need twenty more of the same kind in 
Missouri now. 

Before dismissing- Boonville College we shall be 
pardoned for saying a word about C. L. Loomis, who 
appears in the charter as 'one of the incorporators, 
and who was the secretary of the board of trustees. 
He came to Boonville as a Yankee school-teacher, 
some years before this. He at first taught a boys' 
school on Main Street, opposite the present residence 
of Mr. James M. Nelson. It was, in some sense, a 
rival of Mr. Kemper's. There was never, however, 
the slightest unfriendly feeling between them. They 
were both bachelors, and both Presbyterians. Mr. 
Toomis had rather the harder cases of the town. He 
did his work well — so well that he was invited by Mr. 
J. L. Tracy to take the principalship of the flourish- 
ing school for girls over which he presided. There 
he was invaluable. Indeed, he was quite a remark- 
able man. Very homely in his personal appearance 
and ungraceful in his gait, he was one of those rare 
men that seem to know everything and to be able to 
do anything. To our youthful eyes he was a won- 
der, and as we look back to him, after a lapse of 
more than a quarter of a century, we can truthfully 
say that, modest as he was, he was one of the marked 
men we have met in this world. He married finally 
Miss Ruggles, one of his associate teachers, and went 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 161 

as a missionary to Africa. Where he is now we do 
not know. 

The tenth year of the school opened September 19, 
1853. During the first term tiiere were entered eighty- 
five pupils, among them Frederick Kemper Free- 
man, a namesake and nephew of our teacher. Fred 
was a sprightly, good-hearted boy, universally pop- 
ular. He went west into the Territories for a while, 
then gave his services to the Confederacy during 
the war, and is now living in Georgia. George 
H. Houck is a name which prompts a sigh. Poor 
boy! be has gone to his reckoning, and to his own 
Master he stands or falls. With many good traits of 
character; he was utterly unfit for such a school. It 
would have been better had his father kept him with 
himself on his trips back and forth to Santa Fe. We 
know not which to pity most, poor George or his 
poor teacher. John T. and James H. Chandler, twin 
brothers, were so much alike that their own father 
could not distinguish them, and was compelled, there- 
fore, to whip them both, to be sure that he had the 
right one. Boys of robust minds in robust bodies, 
substantial characters, but full of mischief and fun. 
They were good students and fine speakers. They 
taught in the school the next year, and afterward for 
several years in various parts of the State. John was 
a tutor in William Jewell College. They were both 
Southern soldiers, John gaining a major's commis- 
sion. James is now loaning money on Kansas City 
property, and is a resident of that thriving place. 
John became a lawyer, was sent to the State Legisla- 
ture from Clay County, has been presented by his 



i62 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

county as its candidate for Congress before the nom- 
inating convention, and is now a substantial citizen 
of Liberty, Mo., and tlie treasurer of William Jewell 
College. William Gentry was the son of Richard 
Gentry, of Pettis County, iahis day the leading farm- 
er of Missouri, and one of its most remarkable men. 
William is now one of the heavy men of his native 
county, an extensive and prosperous bachelor farm- 
er. Philip E. Chappell, from Callaway, opposite 
Jefferson City, and William G. McCarty, from the 
capital, belong here. Both good boys and good men. 
Phil was a favorite. We all remember his bright 
face and sparkling eyes. He has given himself to a 
financial life as a banker, and is now the honored 
Treasurer of the State of Missouri. That his love 
never waned for his old teacher, and that his pen has 
not lost its cunning, are shown in the very excellent 
tribute which he pays in this volume to the character 
of Mr. Kemper. William Ballantine, then from Bruns- 
wick, now of Nebraska City, had all the generous 
impulses of his Irish ancestry Dan Woolridge is 
the popular druggist of Boonville. 

There were eighty-one pupils during the second 
term, beginning Feb. 13, 1854; among them Lewis 
Nelson, son of James M. Nelson, probably the 
wealthiest man and certainly one of the worthiest 
citizens of Cooper County. 

This closes the record of the writer's personal at- 
tendance upon the school. For nine years and a half 
he had been a registered pupil. It was an inestimable 
privilege to sit at his feet for so long a time. He is 
almost ashamed to confess it here, as such advantages 



MALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. 163 

should have shown themselves in a more fruitful life. 
It was not the teacher's fault that they have not. 
The influence of his mighty spirit has been the at- 
tending mentor of his life, and, though twenty-eight 
years have since sped their course, he still lives under 
the grateful shadow of his teacher's presence. 

Another, far more important, fact makes this a 
proper pause for the close of this chapter. 



CHAPTER IX. 

HIS MARRIAGE. 

Woman is not undeveloped man, 

But diverse. Could we make her as the man, 

Sweet love were slain, whose dearest bond is this 

Not like to like, but like in difference. 

Yet in the long years liker must they grow ; 

The man be more of woman, she of man. 

He gain in sweetness and in moral height, 

Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world ; 

She, mental breadth, nor fail in childward care. 

More as the double-natured poet each. 

Till at the last she set herself to man 

Like perfect music unto noble words. 

And so these twain, upon the skirts of Time, 

Sit side by side, full-summed in all their powers, 

Dispensing harvest, sowing the To be. 

Self-reverent each, and reverencing each. 

Distinct in individualities, 

But like each other, even as those who love. 

Then comes the statelier Eden back to man. 

Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm. 

Then springs the crowning race of human kind." 

Tennyson. 

We know from his journal that .Mr. Kemper did 
not contemplate a bachelor's life as a permanent 
arrangement. From our knowledge of his character, 
it seems rather strange that he should have postponed 
his marriage to so late a period. As from our 



HIS MARRIAGE. 165 

observation and reflection on the subject we judge 
early marriages the wiser arrangement in all ordinary- 
cases, we have queried why Mr. Kemper did not 
think so. Several reasons may suggest themselves. 
Among these there is one, which we know exerted 
a considerable and perhaps a determining influence 
with him : it was his unwillingness to ask any one 
to share with him the inconveniences of comparative 
poverty. He alludes to this several times in his 
journal. We do- not believe in this principle. A 
poor man needs a wife as much as a rich one, and a 
true woman will not hesitate to share the fortunes of 
the man she loves. Another reason may have influ- 
enced him, and doubtless did. It was the fact that 
he never met the woman of his choice until he saw 
his wife. 

There was at Boonville, almost as far back as we 
can remember, a flourishing school for girls, known as 
the " Pleasant Retreat Female Seminary." It was the 
property and under the control of the Rev. William 
G. Bell, the first pastor of the Presbyterian Church of 
Boonville. It was an excellent institution, perhaps 
the best in the State at that time. Mrs. Bell was 
unusually well qualified for the responsibilities of her 
position, as she was a superior housekeeper, a refined 
lady, and an excellent manager of girls. The school 
was quite popular, attracting pupils from all parts of 
the State. Its students are now among the cultivated 
women of Missouri. 

In the early part of the winter of 1849 there was a 
vacancy in the school, and Miss Ruggles, who was 
then a teacher in the Tracy school of Boonville, sent 
for one of her former pupils, Miss Susan H. Taylor, 



1 66 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

of Hoosick Falls, New York, to fill the vacancy. As 
Miss Taylor had finished the regular course of study 
in the academy of this place, and was only giving 
attention to music and drawing, she was able to leave 
at once, and reached Boonville in the latter part of 
November. She was introduced to Mr. Kemper the 
first day of her arrival, at the church prayer-meeting. 
Six months perhaps elapsed before they were throw^n 
together again. After this they were frequently in 
each other's company, and became well acquainted 
by means of the singing-schools, lyceums, and school 
exhibitions which they attended. Both were members 
also of the church choir. In this way two years 
passed, and they recognized each other as friends, 
bound together by the tie of mutual respect. A Bible 
class was then formed, composed chiefly of the teach- 
ers of the Sunday-school. Hon. John G. Miller was 
one of its members. He was an elder, the superin- 
tendent of the Sabbath-school, and a devout Christian. 
Captain James Walter, Thomas Slack, Colonel James 
Quarles, and Dr. William M. Quarles were also re- 
membered as connected with the class. These are 
all dead but Mr. Slack, who now lives in Jefferson, 
Texas. He is a brother of General Slack of Con- 
federate fame, and is remembered as an honest, good 
man, very fond of singing; which he did, not only 
with the spirit and the understanding, but also with 
his whole body. 

Mr. Kemper was the teacher of this Bible class, and 
the prophecy of Daniel was the first study. It was 
here that the attachment between Mr. Kemper and 
Miss Taylor began; in the mutual study of God's 
word their friendship ripened into love. Mr. Kem- 



HIS MARRIAGE. 167 

per wa,s a man of strong feeling and ardent attach- 
ments. The schoolboy who showed a spirit of 
obedience and a disposition and ability to learn al- 
ways stood very high in his estimation. So this 
young woman, who studied her Bible lesson so as to 
be able to answer the hard questions of this propheti- 
cal and mystical book, at once won his heart. There 
are some of his schoolboys probably still living who 
may remember acting as postmen for their teacher. 
They would take their stand at the door of the Pres- 
byterian Church before the Sabbath-school began, 
and hand Miss Taylor his letter as she entered to 
take charge of her class. The answer was taken to 
the Bible class in the afternoon, and placed inside a 
book of reference, which was passed over to him at 
the close of the recitation. But few letters were 
thus exchanged before the important question was 
asked and answered, and the engagement sealed by 
the presentation of a handsomely bound copy of the 
Greek Testament. A fitting courtship for so high 
and hallowed a union^. 

He was anxious that the marriage should take 
place at the close of the session in the summer of 
1852. But chivalry and prudence seemed to forbid, 
for he said that he was in debt and could not ask any 
woman to share a life of poverty. Miss Taylor 
therefore returned to her home in the East. 

In the year 1853 his father died in Virginia. From 
the patrimony which now came to him he was able 
to free himself from the load of debt and buy a 
small farm, lying some five miles south of Boonville. 
This farm, as we shall see, became one of the pets of 
his subsequent life. 



1 68 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

There was now no obstacle to the consummation of 
his marriage. He always preserved a dignified reti- 
cence as to his private affairs. The writer, closing 
his connection v/ith the school in 1854, was to be 
sent to the University of Virginia. Hearing that 
Mr. Kemper was also contemplating a trip to Vir- 
ginia, he very naturally asked to be allowed to ac- 
company him. The request was refused, without 
explanation, but for a reason which in due time be- 
came apparent. Miss Taylor was now living in 
Muscatine, Iowa, and there, July 17, 1854, at the 
house of Mr. David Kerr, she and Mr. Kemper were 
married by the Rev. Samuel Baird. They made a 
bridal trip to New England and to Virginia, visiting 
the relatives of each. 

'^ John Taylor came from England in 1639, ^^<^ set- 
tled in Connecticut. He had two sons — John, born 
in 1641, and Thomas, in 1643. In 1645, having busi- 
ness that called him back to England, he set sail in a 
ship of w^hich nothing was ever heard again, except 
as a vision which is known in history as the ' Phan- 
tom Ship' ; one of the 

* Ships that sailed for sunny isles, 
But never came to shore.' 

*' When the boys were grown, John, the elder son, 
moved to Northampton, Mass., while the younger 
remained with his mother. The descendants of this 
younger son enjoyed great prosperity and long lives. 
Many men and women of influence and learning 
and piety went forth to bless other communities and 
portions of our great country. But the elder son, 
settling in a portion of the country renowned for 



HIS MA RRIA GE. 1 69 

Indian warfare and disturbances, many of his fam- 
ily were killed or taken prisoners. Their widows 
were thus left to struggle with poverty and hardships 
in raising their children. As a necessary result, 
there was less of wealth and learning in tliis branch 
of the family, but quite as much of sterling worth, 
and integrity and simple trust in God, 

"John himself was killed by the Indians in 1704, 
leaving a family of thirteen children. Thomas, the 
tenth child, was in several battles with the French 
and Indians, but after escaping the perils of war 
was drowned in the Connecticut River. He left but 
two children. The youngest, Thomas, was engaged 
in Indian warfare, and while marching with a com- 
pany of seventeen men was waylaid near Brattleboro, 
Vt., by a party of one hundred French and Indians. 
After a desperate encounter, in which most of his 
men were killed, Captain Taylor was made a prisoner 
and taken to Canada. He was kept in close confine- 
ment for several months, but was finally released for 
a ransom. The General Court of Massachusetts 
rewarded him for his bravery by the payment of fifty 
pounds, eighteen pounds for the loss of his gun, and 
ten pounds for the loss of his leather breeches. 

" Lewis Taylor, the father of Mrs. Kemper, and 
grandson of Captain Taylor, erected a handsome mar- 
ble monument, in 1874, on the spot where so many 
brave men were killed and his grandfather was capt- 
ured. 

"At an early date this branch of the Taylor 
family, meeting with so many losses and discourage- 
ments, were inclined to emigrate and seek homes 
in more fertile lands and beneath sunnier skies. 



l-jo THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Calvin Taylor, a surgeon in the U. S. service, located 
in Mississippi as early as 1790. But as he died be- 
fore the expiration of a year, his brothers were de- 
terred from following his example. But the next 
generation three of the brothers left their New Eng- 
land home, going first to New Jersey. But the 
father of Mrs. Kemper was recalled to take charge of 
his father's farm. The other two brothers went on 
South. One of them established a celebrated school 
for girls at Sparta, Georgia. The other, Calvin 
Taylor, still lives, a hospitable, noble, good man on 
the Gulf coast of Mississippi. 

*' This spirit of emigration prevailed to such an ex- 
tent that at the present day this family has a greater 
number of representatives in Wisconsin, Iowa, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, and California than in the 
New England States. 

" All of the numerous branches of this family have 
been a blessing in communities where they have 
made their hom.es. 

'* That they retain the integrity and virtues of 
their ancestors is perhaps best shown in the corre- 
spondence of Mr. Lewis Taylor, the father of Mrs. 
Kemper, with Mrs. Porter (the wife of President 
Porter, of Yale College), who belonged to the Con- 
necticut family of Taylors. Their object was to im- 
part and obtain information about both branches of 
the family. Their combined research could find no 
member upon whom any stain or dishonor rested, 
and there was no record of a divorce or separation 
of husband and wife. 

" Mrs. Kemper's mother was a Webster of North- 
field, Mass., and in this family were many gifted 



HIS MARRIAGE. 171 

minds and noble characters. An uncle of hers, 
Ezekiel Webster, who was graduated at Harvard 
College, was pronounced by his classmates the peer 
of Daniel Webster, both in intellect and powers of 
oratory. But just after his graduation he met with 
an accident that deprived him of his eyesight and 
compelled him to lead a secluded life. 

" Mrs. Kemper's grandmother Taylor bore the 
maiden name of Christian Field, and was a woman 
of renowned piety and an active worker in every 
good cause. From this Field family have gone 
forth men of enterprise, and worth and goodness to 
all parts of the country. 

"Susan Holton Taylor was born in Barre, Vt., 
November 26, 1831, and was the fifth child in a fam- 
ily of nine children. When only two years of age 
her father removed to Hinsdale, N. H., to take 
charge of his father's farm, situated at the junction 
of the Ashuelot River with the Connecticut. This 
w^as a manufacturing village, and the children had to 
be sent away from home for an education. Susan 
and her sister Emily went to Hoosick Falls, N. Y., 
to prepare for Mount Holyoke Seminary. Emily's 
health failed, and she was obliged to stop her studies. 
Susan then entered Miss Lyon's seminary for a three 
years' course, but after one year there she per- 
suaded her father to let her return to Hoosick Falls. 
She remained there until the time of her coming to 
Boonville." 

Mrs. Kemper is undoubtedly a representative of 
the best elements of New England society. She 
was a congenial companion for her husband. She 
not only appreciated his many great excellences, but 



172 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

was also in thorough sympathy with all his tastes 
and pursuits. Like him she was a scholar and a 
student. Like him, she was a teacher and an ed- 
ucator. Like him, she was a Christian and a 
worker for Christ. Their communion of spirit 
must have been perfect, and of the most elevated 
character. With all her intelligence and learning, 
she was a true woman ; not harsh and crabbed, as 
some literary women are. There never was a pupil 
of her husband, during the twenty-six years and m.ore 
of their wedded life, that did not love and respect 
Mrs. Kemper. She won the hearts of all. not by 
the low arts of the demagogue, but by her gentle- 
ness, and patience, and constant readiness to sym- 
pathize with suffering and to relieve distress. She 
was the friend even of the bad boys, and, like Gold- 
smith's preacher, she 

" Chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain." 

Happy was our dear teacher in securing such a wife ; 
and happy she in being honored with such a hus- 
band ; for 

" Happy they, the happiest of their kind. 
Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate 
Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend." 

The intimacy of husband and wife is certainly the 
closest, and should be the most hallowed of the re- 
lations of life. No true and pure sensibility but 
shrinks instinctively and relentlessly from all ex- 
posure of these domestic treasures to the cold and 
curious gaze of the public. These feelings we shall 
certainly respect. The few extracts from letters 



HIS MARRIAGE. 173 

which are here presented will not, we think, be a 
violation cf this principle, as they simply show the 
common loyalty of man and wife. 

"Fulton, Mo., Christmas, 1856. 
" There is only one thing more sacred than the marriage rela- 
tion, and that is our relation to God. In thinking of you, I feel 
that it is cruel to have such ties sundered by death ; but I repress 
the rising thought, for all our relations here are polluted by sin, 
and the world where they neither marry nor are given in marriage 
is our true home. I have brighter hopes of heaven by reason 
of my relation to you. If the unbelieving husband is sanctified 
by the believing wife, the latter has much responsibility, as well 
as a glorious mission." 

From Mrs. Kemper to her husband in St. Joseph : 

" BooNViLLE, Mo., Jan. 15, 1875. 

"We all miss you very much. Grace says she is in ' distress ' 
because her father is away. Stella and Freddy say : * We are 
so lonesome, and wish our father would coroe home ; but we 
work some every day and try to be good children.' 

*' May the Lord guide and keep you, and bring you back in 
safety to those who have no joy while you are absent." 

From Mrs. Kemper, after starting on a journey : 

"St. Louis, July 8, 1878. 

" I feel very unhappy about leaving, and would gladly turn 
back if a sense of stern duty were not resting upon me. Even 
now I think I would return if Grace did not take a cry every 
time I speak of it, I hope you will not undertake any hard work ; 
for your continued life and health are of more value to your fam- 
ily than all other earthly good. Indeed I should be a thousand- 
fold happier in that old log cabin at the farm with you, than with 
a gay company in a palace-car, seeing all new places and objects, 
and traveling the world over." 

" Fulton, June 12, 1857. 

" I hope it is well with you and with the child. You are all 
the world to me, and more. I hope our pilgrimage will be marked 



174 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

by growing- affection, wisdom, and usefulness, and that we, with 
no more long separations on the way, may be united in the world 
where the most congenial spirits here will there have the most 
intimate companionship. Whom could I greet with so much joy 
on the plains of heaven as I could her who gave me her heart's 
devotion here? Surely, after my Saviour, none could claim such 
a glad greeting." 

'-' Fulton, Mo., March 17, 1S61. 
" Last night, in writing to my aunt Mary Kellogg, when I al- 
luded to our dear departed boy I found the fountain of my tears 
as copious as ever. I felt surprised once when I saw my father's 
face quiver with deep emotion at the mention of my brother, who 
died thirteen years before. I understand it now. I have a 
mournful pleasure in thinking of our dear boy. It is certainly a 
rich pleasure to think of those we love best as being in heaven. 
Besides, you and I are more closely one by the common grief, as 
well as joy, of our lot. I look toward the cemetery as I go to 
college, and enjoy communion with Eugene and with his mother." 

" Westminster College, March 14, 1857. 
" We have been enjoying a course of lectures from Dr. Baird. 
I told him that my wife was reading Greek, and when she felt 
qualified to take my classes I thought of visiting Greece. But up- 
on reflection I think that I can no more part with you, if there is 
no better reason for it than learning — stern duty alone must part 
us. I shall bring on my Greek Tesament, however, so that we 
can read it together in the vacation, and I think we can accom- 
plish more than when I was courting, Good-by. Without you 
I am ' a bird with one imperfect wing to soar upon.' " 

As the fruits of this marriage there were born 
eleven children, six daughters and five sons. The 
oldest three were born while the parents were living 
in Fulton, all the others after their return to Boon- 
ville. 

Lewis Taylor was born May 16, 1857 ; Eugene 
Allison, January 25, 1859 ; Ida Webster, July 19, 



HIS MARRIAGE. 175 

i860; Julia Strong, September 16, 1861 ; Walter Ed- 
win, August 15, 1863; Grace, Marcrh 22, 1865 ; Theo- 
dore, May 20, 1866 ; Stella Ruth, September 6, 1868; 
Frederick William, September 29, 1869 5 Susie Alice, 
August 19, 1872; May Gertrude, March 17, 1874. 

But the angel reapers have been in this precious 
harvest field, and have gathered more than half to 
the garnered treasures above. Eugene led the way, 
and was first shown the path to heaven, January 15, 
186 1. Then Julia followed, before she had l^nown a 
single year of earth's sorrows, June 30, 1862. One 
day after, Ida joined her and their angel brother, 
July I, 1862. Lewis, the first-born, who had lived 
long enough to become the hope, the pride, the joy 
of his parents' hearts, fell with the leaves of autumn, 
and his young spirit entered upon the eternal spring- 
time of the soul, November 22, 1863. Then Walter, 
another little bud that dared not open its petals to 
the harsh blasts of this world, unfolded its loveliness 
to the sunnier skies above. May 25, 1864, Theodore, 
recognized as God's gift to stricken hearts, spent but 
a single summer here, and found of all the shortest 
path to heaven. Last of the sacred seven was Fred- 
die, the father's namesake, the mother's love and 
hope, whose mind had expanded enough to show 
somewhat of the undeveloped riches it contained, 
amid the glories of the centennial year, saw the beck- 
oning nod of the six who had preceded him, and 
went to join their happy company. Thus they went, 
five sons — all, every boy that God had given them — 
and two daughters, sweet companions in heaver for 
their brothers. 



176 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" Voice after voice hath died away. 

Once in my dwelling heard. 
Sweet household name by name hath changed 

To grief's forbidden word ! 
From dreams of night on each I call, 

Each of the far removed ; 
And waken to my own wild cry. 

Where are ye, my beloved ?" 

" Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew, 
They sparkled, were exhaled, and went to heaven." 

" Let them die. 
Let them die now, thy children ! So thy heart 
Shall wear their beautiful image all undimmed 
Within it to the last." 

With such mutual \oy as ever waits upon the birth 
of children ; with such sweet discipline of sorrow, 
as they saw them, one by one, taken to their home 
above : how must these parents' hearts have been 
welded into one, and how must they have been chast- 
ened in this seven-times- heated fiery furnace of be- 
reavement ! As we read such a record, that is not 
without its parallel in many another pious Christian 
household, do we wonder that probably the very first 
problem discussed by the pen of inspiration was the 
afflictions of God's people.? Whether Job be a myth 
or a real person, he is the type of millions who have 
succeeded him, and who have needed, in the dark 
valley of sorrow, not only to read the lesson of his 
faith and patience, but also the truth, taught by his 
history, and which God has thrown as a rainbow of 
peace and comfort across the dark cloud of our 
earthly trials, " Whom the Lord loveth, He chast- 
eneth." 



HIS MARRIAGE. 177 

The common belief of man has been the contrary. 
Unusual sorrows he interprets as the proof of un- 
usual displeasure on the part of the Sovereign Dis- 
penser of events. To many a crushed spirit, this has 
been the most oppressive thought, God surely is 
angry with me, else why does He pursue me thus.'' 
That this is not so, is sufficiently proven by two in- 
disputable facts, that notoriously and confessedly 
wicked men often greatly prosper, while the good 
and pure are correspondingly depressed. 

'* In this wild world the fondest and the best 
Are the most tried, most troubled, and distressed." 

Why, how is this, if God rules and concerns Him- 
self with human interests ? He could prevent all 
this, did He think it wisest so to do. He does not 
prevent it. He allows it. He brings it about. We 
may not fully understand the special purpose in any 
case. But we do know that He never errs, and that 
He is always good. He tells us that the sorrows of 
His people are not the punishments of a Judge, but 
the chastisements of a Father; not the evidences of 
His anger, but the sure pledge of His love ; that 
"this present light affliction, which is but for a mo- 
ment, worketh a far more exceeding and an eternal 
weight of glory." The poet Moore caught the 
inspiration of this truth when he sang : — 

" Oh, Thou, who dry'st the mourner's tear, 
How dark this world would be, 
If, when deceived and wounded here, 

We could not fly to Thee ! 
The friends, who in our sunshine live, 
When winter comes, are flown ; 
8* 



178 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

And he who has but tears to give, 

Must weep those tears alone. 
But Thou wilt heal that broken heart, 

Which, like the plants that throw 
Their fragrance from the wounded part, 

Breathes sweetness out of woe. 

When joy no longer soothes or cheers, 

And e'en the hope that threw 
A moment's sparkle o'er our tears 

Is dimmed and vanished too, 
Oh, who would bear life's stormy doom, 

Did not Thy wing of love 
Come brightly wafting through the gloom 

Our peace-branch from above ? 
Then sorrow, touched by Thee, grows bright 

With more than rapture's ray ; 
As darkness shows us worlds of light 

We never saw by day !" 

So this marriage, begun July 17, 1854, and ended 
March 9, 1881, a union of two noble Christian people, 
and sealed by the birth of eleven children, was never- 
theless shadowed by the wings of death, if death can 
shadow a Christian household. Now the mother and 
four daughters remain, to tarry here a little longer 
before they too shall go to complete the family union 
around our Father's glory-circled throne. To them 

" Adversity's cold frosts will soon be o'er ; 
It heralds brighter days : — the joyous spring 
Is cradled on the winter's icy breast, 
And yet comes flushed in beauty." 



CHAPTER X. 

KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 

" I want to help you grow as beautiful as God meant you to be 
when He thought of you first." — George Macdonald. 

Mr. Kemper had now taught in Boonville ten 
years. He was nearly thirty-eight years of age. 
Although up to this time a bachelor, he had always 
had a boarding department attached to his school. 
This had been under the care of his aunt, Mrs. 
Allison. Up to this period no special effort was 
made to bring the boarding-house into prominence. 
The school, while never without boarding-pupils, 
was conducted mainly in the interest of those living 
immediately around it. Now, however, Mr. Kemper 
was married, and his wife was a teacher in full sympa- 
thy with the profession of her husband. This led to 
a change in the character of the school. From this 
time forth the boarding department comes into 
greater and still greater prominence, until finally it 
culminates in the exclusion of day pupils altogether. 

For the first year and a half it was called The Boon- 
ville Boarding School. It then received the name of 
Male Collegiate InstiUtte. The change in its character 
for the coming year is shown in the fact that it is 
opened, in the fall of 1854, as The Kemper Family 
School. This eleventh year began September 18, and 



i8o THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

there were enrolled during its continuance sixty-one 
pupils, of whom nineteen were boarders. He received 
the assistance of John T, and James H. Chandler, who 
Avere intelligent, energetic, and efficient teachers. 

It is worthy of remark that, while Mr. Kemper was 
a decided Presbyterian, and the school was regarded, 
as slated in the charter, as being under similar in- 
fluence, his assistant teachers, so far, were taken al- 
together from other Christian connections. The 
Harrises and Chandlers were Baptists ; Lawson was 
from a Methodist family, but has since become a 
Baptist ; and Byler was a Univeralist. This, as well 
as every other act of his life, shows the liberality of 
his spirit. There never was the faintest tinge of 
bigotry about him. 

The session of 1855-56 opened Sept. 17, 1855, and 
during the entire term there were entered but thirty 
pupils. There was no assistant teacher for this 
year, as none was needed. He determined to limit 
the number to those whom he could personally teach. 

This brings us to a gap in the history of the school 
at Boonville. In the summer of 1856 Mr. Kemper 
was elected to a professorship in Westminster Col- 
lege, He accepted the position, and held it for five 
years. During this time the school passed through 
several hands. It was continued as a school for boys 
for one year by the writer of this sketch, who had 
come home from the University of Virginia to spend 
a year in the recruiting of his health. The property 
was then sold and occupied as a school for girls, 
under the control, first of a Mr. Fielding, and after- 
ward of Mr. Lawson G. Drury. 

This break in the continuity of the school, or its 



KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL i8i 

transfer, in a sense, to Fulton, furnishes a convenient 
place to pause and turn to his journal, that we may- 
glean from it matters of interest and instruction. 

We shall give, first, some incidents that occurred 
in his management of the school, and which he 
thought of sufficient importance to be recorded. 

''^ Friday Mornifig^ Oct. 13, 1848. — I have just heard, 
by the merest accident, that I have offended one of 
my scholars — excited bad feelings and a boasting that 
he was not afraid of me, etc. This boy entered the 
school Monday last, I believe. As I think this case 
develops certain laws of very common application, I 
will detail the affair very circumstantially. 

'''' Impfimts, I had devised a new plan for teaching 
punctuation. (See blank book of copies.) I was 
flushed with interest and pleasure in prospect of hav- 
ing my scholars learn punctuation so readily as I ex- 
pected ; pleased at the prospect of learning it myself ; 
pleased at having penmanship learned simultaneously 
with punctuation ; pleased that all the writing-class, 
both grammar scholars and smaller ones, could learn 
at once ; and that in one half hour I could comfort- 
ably teach so much ; get and give so much improve- 
ment. 

" This was the second day that I had been at the 
first lesson in punctuation. I approached L., found 
him busy, but employing his time in utter ignorance 
of the very principle to be learned, a principle which 
I had reiterated again and again. I did not rebuke 
him exactly, as I remember, but in the flush of my 
anxiety that all should do well, and disappointment at 
what I regarded the stupidity of so large a scholar, I 
told him what he ought to do, referred to my reitera- 



1 82 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

tions for two days, wrote his exercise correctly, and 
left him." 

The next incident shows that he was an honest and 
severe critic of himself. 

" Wednesday^ Jan. 24, 1849. — I have been uncom- 
fortably, though not disgracefully, vexed to-day in 
in the rehearsal of a drama preparatory to exhibition. 
Causes : — 

" I St. I had not severely studied the drama; conse- 
quently I knew not the subject-matter, nor had I con- 
ceived of the proper character of each individual 
person. Indeed, some of the persons did not know 
what parts had been assigned them. 

" 2d. Of course, boys were unprepared for interest- 
ing performance, and misbehaved. 

'' Lesson : I must be prepared in all respects, and 
know how to prepare my boys. Then I shall have 
perfect se// control during the performance, and can 
control others successfully and pleasantly to them 
and me." 

The next illustrates one of the great practical evils 
in all our schools, public and private — absenteeism. 
No pupil ever loses one hour from the regular exer- 
cises of school except to his own injury and to the 
discomfort of his teachers. There are cases in almost 
every school where the year is practically wasted, the 
pupil kept constantly behind his class, and the teacher 
perpetually harassed by this evil. The strangest thing 
about the matter is that some parents expect the 
teacher to deduct from the tuition of the child on ac- 
count of these absences. Such is the case here re- 
corded. We have had such in our experience ; we re- 
member one distinctly who sent his son in the year 



KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 183 

1856-57. He insisted that we should discount for 
every day and half day on which his boy should be 
away. Such pupils give their teachers more trouble 
than any two obedient and industrious ones that never 
lose an hour ; and yet the teacher is expected to lose 
by the very thing which gives him this double trouble. 
Mr. Kemper, as we shall see, yielded to this unrea- 
sonable demand, as did we. But he learned afterward 
to assert his rights, and did so in a very decided way. 
We know of a case which shows this. 

After he had changed the school to one exclusively 
for boarders, he limited his number to fifty pupils, for 
whom he provided rooms, and servants, and teachers. 
He then published that he would receive no pupil for 
less than the school year, and that he would hold 
each parent responsible for the bill of the whole 
year. A gentleman entered his son and removed him 
within two months of the beginning of the term, or 
the time of entering. He was required to pay the 
bill for the entire year. He objected at first, and con- 
sulted a lawyer on the subject. His counselor assured 
him that he was legally bound for the whole time. 
This is undoubtedly true ; and while we would not, 
except in extreme cases, enforce it to the full extent 
of the bill, yet there are good reasons which justify 
the doing so. 

In the first place, there is the clear contract be- 
tween the parties. If any parent does not wish to 
enter his son upon such terms, he is free to keep him 
at home or to send him somewhere else. Having 
promised to pay the bill of the year, he is under 
moral and legal obligation to do so. 

Again, the teacher incurs certain obigations on the 



1 84 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

faith of these promises of parents. He provides a 
large and expensive building; he furnishes the rooms 
engaged; he provides food for such a number ; he 
employs teachers for the entire year. Now, if it is 
the privilege of one pupil to withdraw, it is the priv- 
ilege of all. Let all do so, and we see at once that 
the teacher is ruined. 

The same principle applies to many other kinds of 
business. Let a man engage an architect to build 
him a house. The workmen are hired, the materials 
are all bought, and the house is half finished. The 
owner now suddenly concludes that he will not com- 
plete the building. Will the architect be satisfied 
with payment for the work already done and the ma- 
terials already used 1 A landlord rents one hundred 
acres of tillable land to a tenant for a year, begin- 
ning with March. September ist the tenant gives up 
the land ; does he owe only for the six months he has 
occupied it ? 

These cases show that common sense and com- 
mon justice vindicate the teacher in demanding that 
those who rent his rooms for a year and then fail to 
use them, should nevertheless be expected to pay for 
them. One of the two parties must lose, and, mani- 
festly, the loss should fall on that one who fails to 
avail himself of the privileges of his engagement. 

This discussion has been entered into because there 
are many good and intelligent men who think that 
the teacher is almost dishonest when he refuses to 
lose the time during which they keep their children 
away from school. If these excellent people were 
teachers, or would stop a moment to think of teach- 
ing as a business, they would see this matter in quite 



KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 185 

a different light. In this connection, is it not a sig- 
nificant fact tliat the teacher, who more than supports 
his family by his profession, is a rare man in the 
ranks ? There are not twenty-five, among the thou- 
sands of teachers in Missouri, who more than make a 
decent support by their labors in the work of educa- 
tion. 

The following incident has suggested these 
thoughts : — 

'' October 25, 1849. — One parent has to-day with- 
drawn a boy at my request. More than a year ago, 
having experienced much loss of labor from absent 
boys, I restricted my number to thirty scholars, and 
made very specific arrangements as to their punctual 
attendance. Among other cases was that of T. 
Although his boys had come badly, and I was badly 
paid in bad lumber badly sawed, I agreed, upon a 
promise of punctuality, to receive them, and turned 
off other scholars, cash ones. The promise of punct- 
uality was not fulfilled and / lost the time. The boys 
failed in their studies. One gave up grammar. The 
other, after extra help out of school in geography, 
lost so much relish as to be forced to get what would 
have been pleasurable, and declared that he would 
hold his head as if he were getting his lesson, but 
would not do it. That is, I might lead him to the 
waters of knowledge, but he would drink or not as 
he pleased. 

" These circumstances, after the lapse of six months, 
were detailed to the parents, and the arrangement 
was made that but one boy should come at a time, 
and he should be punctual. He has lost the last two 
weeks or more. His father was advised to remove 



1 86 THE LIFE OF PROF, KEMPER. 

him, if there should be any necessity for a recurrence 
of absences. He has removed him because, as he in- 
forms me in a note, he anticipates future absences. 
Query : how do the past absence of two weeks, and 
the expectation of future absences, comport in sin- 
cerity with past promises of punctuality and past ar- 
rangement for the same.?'' 

''^November 5, 1850. — To-day it rained all playtime, 
but several boys played town-ball all the recess, who 
were tardy in the morning on account of rain. One 
boy, who says he was kept at home by his father for 
an hour or so, after school let it out that he too 
would have been here if he had supposed the boys 
would play." 

^^ April 10, 1851. — J. W. good-natured, but don't 
know how to study. After various troubles and for- 
bearances, found that he did not know how to find 
answers to questions in arithmetic. We cannot ex- 
actly take it for granted that a new scholar knows 
nothing, for then we could teach him nothing. But 
we must take it for granted that he knows next to 
nothing ; that he knows not how to study ; that he 
has been accustomed to disobey rather than do an 
unpleasant duty." 

'"''January 34, 1853. — M. comes into my room this 
morning, showing considerable passion in his face, 
and says, ' My pa says if the boys can't let me alone 
I must quit school.' ' Very well,' I replied. 

*' Now, first, he is in a bad moral tone himself. 
Second, his father is the main cause of it. Since his 
father's return he has been steadily deteriorating. 
Third, last week I whipped a boy for trespassing 
upon his rights, and would defend them successfully. 



KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 187 

But no one else has been complained of till this ir- 
regular and impolite way of departing. He don't 
want his rights, but is glad of an excuse." 

We think that we remember this case, where a boy 
was whipped on his account. If we are not mis- 
taken, it was F. Octave Bush, a French boy from 
Louisiana. It was the only time during the nine 
years of our observation of him when we thought 
that Mr. Kemper gave an unjust punishment. In 
this case he gave to Bush what properly belonged to 
M. Bush was a good boy, and M., at that time, as 
Mr. Kemper found out the next week, was making 
himself quite disagreeable. 

We shall now present some extracts from his 
journal referring more exclusively to himself. 

^^ Monday^ Sep.t. 23, 1850. — Resolved to emulate the 
piety of Nelson and Payson, to make this the great 
controlling principle of my life. Here I will look for 
symmetry of character. Here 1 will look for decision 
of character. Here I will look for happiness. Alms, 
prayer, and fasting shall be in secret, looking con- 
fidently thai the open reward will follow without any 
direct effort for the same. 

'' Tuesday^ Sept. 24, 1850. — Yesterday used modera- 
tion in eating, and had a hearty play at cat before 
9 o'clock this morning. Now at noon my skin is 
clear. Feelings comfortable. May cheerful hope 
and joy, such as Christianity inspires, be companions 
of my way through life. God grant it — my covenant 
God!" 

Mr. Kemper had probably inherited a constitution 
which was disordered as to its biliary secretions. 
This native weakness was seriously increased by his 



1 88 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

inattention to the laws of health while he was a 
college student, and for many years afterward. In- 
sufficient and improper food, irregularity of diet, and 
want of proper rest in sleep all conspired to impair 
his digestive powers, and to bring upon him, in a 
chronic form, the unutterable horrors of dyspepsia. 
He was the suffering and at times the agonized 
victim of this disease for many years. As late as 1856 
we have a statement that he went to bed at half past 
nine o'clock p.m. and rose at four o'clock a.m., giving 
himself six and one half hours sleep. With the strain 
upon the nervous system necessarily involved in 
teaching and in the management of boys in a board- 
ing school, we are quite sure that this was not enough 
time for sleep. While it is, in a sense, true that 
work seldom injures and very rarely kills any one, 
yet work, and especially care, without proper repose 
and recreation, will undermine and ruin any ordinary 
constitution. In his great zeal for professional ex- 
cellence and his earnest, conscientious desire to do 
the utmost possible for his pupils, he violated the 
laws of his physical nature and brought upon him- 
self years of suffering. 

In addition to want of sufficient sleep, he injured 
himself by his habits of abstinence. A man that 
works must eat. His food should be nutritious, 
abundant, and in regular quantities. Mr. Kemper 
imposed frequent fasts upon himself, and at other 
times abstained from certain forms of food for which 
he had an evident relish. These were mistakes, in 
our judgment, for the reason that, being a dyspeptic, 
he needed to practise the utmost regularity in his 
diet. He was a man of ardent nature. The drains 



k:emper fa mil y school. i 89 

upon his physical energies whetted his appetite. He 
was therefore prone to follow a season of abstinence 
by one of too free indulgence. This was hurtful. 
Thus he alternated between extremes, both of which 
were unnatural and improper. With the daily de- 
mands upon him, requiring hard work and constant 
care, he should have taken daily a regular supply of 
nourishing and digestible food. 

In matters of diet he took the Venetian nobleman, 
Luigi Cornaro, as a guide. Cornaro gradually reduced 
the quantity of food which he ate until finally for 
many years we are told that he lived upon a single 
Q^^ a day, taking no other solid food. He died at 
the age of ninety-eight. Such cases are not to be 
used as examples. Whatever is so extraordinary 
must be abnormal. Moreover, such a case furnishes 
no encouragement to irregular habits of eating, fast- 
ing to-day and feasting to-morrow. Cornaro found 
that he could not suddenly increase the quantity of 
food he took without serious trouble. This was Mr. 
Kemper's mistake, and is the mistake of many a 
dyspeptic. Regularity is a necessity for an impaired 
digestion. 

He says that he played at cat between breakfast 
and the opening of school. For him we question 
the wisdom of such hearty exercise, so soon after 
he had eaten. But some of our children may ask, 
What did he mean by playing at cat ? This game has 
now, along with town and hot ball and bandy, gone 
out of vogue with boys, and they have base-ball as 
the substitute. This is probably an improvement 
upon town-ball, which it resembles; but surely the 
broken bones and bruised faces and blinded eyes 



190 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

for which it is responsible are a serious damper to 
our enthusiastic admiration of it. But what is cat ? 
It is a game of ball capable of several modifications, 
according to the number engaged in it. Three can 
play it, and it can make room for eight. It requires 
but a small space, and may occupy a few minutes or 
as many hours, at the choice of the players. Town 
and base ball require larger numbers, and space, and 
longer time. The ordinary game is played by four. 
There are two bases, facing one another some twenty 
steps apart. There are two batters, who occupy the 
bases. Each has one in his rear, who acts as a pitcher 
to the other batter and a catcher for himself. When 
either batter strikes the ball, they exchange bases. 
The catchers seek to win the place of the batters, 
which they may do by catching, or by throwing the 
ball between a batter and the base he is seeking to 
make when they exchange. This last is called 
" crossing out." 

Mr. Kemper not only played at cat, but at town- 
ball also. He was fond of both games. Indeed 
town-ball was in a sense the game of the school in 
the olden times. At noon, before we were dismissed, 
Mr. Kemper would superintend the division of the 
players into two parties, or ''sides" as we called 
them. Unless business prevented, he always took 
part, and was an energetic, interested, and successful 
player. On the playground, while preserving his 
dignity, he was always pleasant and condescending. 
He never used his authority in the conduct of the 
games ; for he w^ould say that in taking part in these 
sports he made himself one of us, and had no more 
authority in the game than the rest of us. Perfect 



KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL, 191 

honesty and fair dealing characterized all his acts on 
the playground. He was always ready to yield a 
doubtful or disputed point. Several of the boys were 
more successful players than he, so that he was never 
chosen the very first on either side. Vachel Hobbs 
was the best batter we ever had, and Nat Smith the 
most accurate thrower of the ball to cross a runner 
out. This participation with us in our sports never 
abated our respect for Mr. Kemper, while it brought 
him very near to our sympathies and furnished him 
much needed relaxation. 

While suffering from the depression of dyspepsia, 
he wrote, July 26, 185 1 : — 

" I will record my desponding views of my enter- 
prise in B(oonville), and hereafter my cheerful ones, 
that by contrasting them truth may be elicited. Sup- 
pose the house contemplated is put up, and I have 
one hundred scholars and two assistants. This is 
one teacher to thirty-ihree and one third pupils. If 
they average twenty dollars, it will be two thousand 
dollars. One thousand will be needed each year for 
three years to pay for property. Then one thousand 
divided between three persons would leave for me 
three hundred and thirty-three dollars. Would this 
pay fire-wood, food, clothes, taxes, servants, expenses 
for self and wife V ' 

Place by the side of this the following, of July 14, 
1853, a year afterward : — 

" Here I will record some things in my property 
affairs for which to be grateful. My pecuniary af- 
fairs are in a much better condition than when I 
came to B. Then I rented dwelling and school-room. 
Now I pay my board by rent of my dwelling, and 



192 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

get rent for one school-room, having my own free, 
and am yearly paying for a good house and lot. The 
past year I have paid upward of seven hundred 
dollars on it, and some for school furniture. I pay 
no security debts now : that is about all paid. My 
library is greatly enlarged, clocks, outhouses, kitchen, 
smoke-house, wardrobe, bookcase, tables, bed, bed- 
stead, etc. Weil." 

This he seems to regard as very en«"ouraging pe- 
cuniary success. So it was, in comparison with 
hundreds of other teachers. But surely it is a bur- 
lesque on the appreciation of teachers by our people, 
when one of the most remarkable of them, a bache- 
lor, can congratulate himself that, by eight years of 
very hard work and patient self-denial, he had suc- 
ceeded in saving two or three thousand dollars' worth 
of property. 

^^ August 1^^ 185 I. — Have just finished reading Dr. 
Ray, in Schoul Friend., on the Dominical Letter, a 
subject on which I have been thinking at intervals 
for nearly twenty years without the full understand- 
ing which I now possess. I have yet to read it re- 
peatedly to make it perfectly familiar, though I now 
comprehend it. 

'"'' August 20., 185 I. — Have been to prayer-meeting, 
and have felt greatly happier than the wealth of this 
world could make me. Before supper I retired to 
my closet with a view to prepare for prayer-meeting. 
Twenty-four hours before 1 felt gloomy, and was led 
to think sadly upon the fact that while an acquaint- 
ance [doubtless the Hon. John G. Miller, elected to 
Congress in 1850] was about to visit his Virginia 
friends in high honor, I am a poor teacher, without 



KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 193 

health, wealth, or honor. I was unhappy at the 
contrast. But I feel happy to night : happier than 
earthly honors, or wealth, or pleasure could all three 
make me. This friend has all that piety can do for a 
man, and worldly good superadded. His piety is 
not a dernier resort in the way of a substitute for 
worldly pleasure. Now I feel that the greater in- 
cludes the less, and is so infinitely above it that the 
less is not missed — not missed — so far is the want of 
it from making me unhappy. I learn this important 
lesson: that men in high life have a kind of pleasure 
(a poor kind) in attaining laboriously their ends, in 
serving their ambitious passions. I, through grace, 
am happy in making my passions serve me. How 
infinitely superior !" 

The summer of 1851 was a crisis in the history of 
the school. It seems that he seriously contemplated 
a removal. He alludes to this in the entry of July 
26, w^hich has been already given. Again, on Sept. 6 
he says : " Until lately I have been in such a state of 
suspense as to whether I should remain in B(oonville) 
or not, that I was unfavorably disposed for health." 
For what reason he felt himself unsettled we do not 
know. It was certainly not on account of any dis- 
satisfaction on the part of the community with him. 
This is proven beyond a question by the fact that this 
very summer, as we have seen, his buildings were al- 
most doubled by his friends and supporters, and by the 
further fact that the school year 185 1-2 shows a larger 
attendance than any other in the history of the en- 
terprise. 

" Sept. 6, 1 85 1. — For several days past, when gloom 
and despondency have come over me, I have tried 
9 



194 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

intercourse with my fellow-men, and found it charm 
away my gloom." 

*' April 26, 1852. — I am now happy. This is a heri- 
tage better than houses and lands. This is a bird in 
the hand worth two in your bushes, ye philosophers. 
Goethe never enjoyed, he says, twenty-four hours of 
true happiness. He never then properly governed 
himself for that time, fasted, repented, or communed 
with God." 

^^ Sunday, May 33, 1852. — Here I am in my private 
room, to think and to meditate, to get wisdom, and 
strength and rest. Oh, how many things have I to 
reflect upon ! How many sins to be sorry for ! How 
many errors to forsake ! How many improvements 
to make ! 

"There is so much to be redeemed, so much to be 
done.^ and so much to be improved, that the most 
strenuous efforts are required ; and yet strenuous 
efforts often prostrate me with disease, and bring on a 
season of doing nothing. I shall try to have a quiet 
mittd, serenity, and cheerfulness to keep the body, by 
exercise and moderation in food and study, in a com- 
fortable condition, to have every school exercise 
pleasant, and performed in the most perfect manner 
possible, down to the singing of a hymn, and a word 
of comfort and encouragement to every feeble little 
scholar. God help me here." 

''''June 20, 1852. — I may approach toward God in 
infinite progression, and I'll do it." 

'■'' June 2T^. — This morning have had a season of 
weeping in my morning devotions, and of prayer to do 
God's w^i 11. Oh for help! The manna I must not 



KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 195 

want to store up. A contented and faithful improve- 
ment of the present, I mttst secui-e. 

" My plans for knowledge, my rules of diet and 
conduct, are perhaps too much my masters instead of 
my servants. A plan seems to conflict with spirit ; 
routine to be inconsistent with new, fresh excitement ; 
plodding, with spirit." 

'■'- June 26, 1852. — Have spent three and a half 
hours this morning in going over the tenth division 
of history in Lyman's Chart. It is, I think, as diffi- 
cult as all the rest of the chart. L. L. says he went 
over the same in one and a half hours. 

'''■ Jime 28. — Have this morning gone over the tenth 
division in two hours. 

'''■ June 2<^. — This morning went over the same in 
one and three fourths hours." 

*' Mr. Temple, the missionary, * evidently endeavored 
to be as upright, as sincere, candid, gentle, kind, 
benevolent, economical, true and good as he expect- 
ed everybody to be in the millennium. This is noth- 
ing more than simply carrying out the surrender 
which one makes of himself to Christ when he trusts 
in Him for salvation.' 

This chapter will conclude by giving his opinion 
of the benefits of fasting, as recorded in the spring 
of 1853. 

"I find my fast days almost the only ones on 
which I do any one of the following things : — 

" Improve my plans, fixtures and ways of teaching. 
Keep cool under multitudinous petty cares, duties, 
interruptions, and causes of vexation. Learning 
lessons so as to know how to answer any questions 



196 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

which pupils may or could legitimately put to me, 
and so as not to require more of them than I do my- 
self know. Do every little thing, and see that no 
law, however small, is a dead letter. Put things to 
rights that have become confused. 

" Reform scholars. Each man's special faults 
specified and watched. Have comfort in school 
duties. Write text-book memoranda or pray. Only 
days in which happiness is in myself, and not de- 
pendent on outward circumstances ; in which, after 
school and walk, can return to the school-room and 
feel that it is my attractive home, in which I have a 
proper perception of the proprieties of things in my 
profession ; in which I drive my business, and do not 
let it drive me ; in which I cause my pupils to im- 
prove rapidly and get their affections, and kill de- 
spondency. 

" If this extraordinary abstinence is the only thing 
that brings me to the performance of my task, then 
my task is too great. For such abstinence, if continued, 
is incompatible with perfect health. It is hard to 
plumb the true track of abstinence, but not harder than 
to be a glowing Christian. There is a warfare or a 
slavery^choose which it shall be. Any compromis- 
ing warfare only insures defeat. It is either defeat 
and slavery, or glorious victory." 



CHAPTER XL 

WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 

" Who that surveys this span of earth we press, 
This speck of life in time's great wilderness, 
This narrow isthmus 'twixt two boundless seas. 
The past, the future, two eternities ! 
Would sully the bright spot, or leave it bare. 
When he might build him a proud temple there — 
A name, that long shall hallow all its space, 
And be each purer soul's high resting-place !" 

Moore. 

The Presbyterians of Missouri are a feeble folk. 
They number, counting both synods, less than twenty, 
thousand communicants. They are, however, an 
active, intelligent, enterprising people. This is seen 
in the fact that they have nearly doubled their nu- 
merical strength within the past fifteen years ; that 
they hold a prominent position in all the centres of 
commerce and intelligence in the State ; and that, in 
proportion to their numbers, they are the leaders in 
the educational enterprises of Missouri. Of the 
private schools in the State, founded, owned, or 
controlled by them, there are three male academies 
in Missouri, four or five mixed schools, one manual- 
labor college for orphans and other destitute persons, 
eight female seminaries, and one male college. In 
addition, this faith has the honor of furnishing, at 



198 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

the present time, to the State University its president 
and at least two of its most distinguished professors. 

The Presbyterians of Missouri have, however, had 
their trials in the prosecution of their educational 
labors — trials which have been neither few nor triv- 
ial. These troubles have been the result of lack of 
good judgment somewhere in every case. They have 
made four attempts to establish a college in Mis- 
souri, and have failed in three of them. Marion Col- 
lege, Richmond College, and the City University 
of St. Louis are all monuments of their folly. If 
all the money which was thrown away on these 
rash ventures could have been saved and concen- 
trated on the remaining college conducted by them, 
it would now be well equipped for the great work 
which it is accomplishing. 

This institution is Westminster College, a brief 
sketch of which will be interesting to many. At a 
meeting of the Presbytery of Missouri, Sept. 27, 
1849, it was resolved, "that the moderator appoint a 
committee of three to inquire into the utility and 
necessity of memorializing the Synod of Missouri, at 
its next meeting, upon the necessity of establishing 
within its limits an institution of learning, to be 
under the care of the same ; or the expediency of es- 
tablishing a Presbyterial Academy within the limits 
of our own Presbytery ; and that said committee be 
requested to report at the next meeting of Presbytery. 
Messrs. Robertson, Bell, and Reed were appointed a 
committee for said purpose." We are told that Mr. 
Bell did not favor but rather opposed this move- 
ment. The chairman of the committee prepared the 
memorial, presented it to the Synod, and strenuously 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 199 

urged its adoption. The Synod, however, voted 
that it was not ready for such a move. 

April 4, 1850, the committee reported its action to 
the Presbytery of Missouri, and was continued. At 
tlie meeting of the Synod the same year the matter 
was again discussed, and some advance was made. 

As there was uncertainty about the final action of 
the Synod, a charter was obtained, Feb. 18, 185 i, for 
an academy, to be under the care of the Presbytery 
of Missouri. The grounds on which Westminster 
College now stands w^ere bought. There were two 
houses on the premises, one of which made a home 
for the teacher, and the other was used for the school. 
The academy was opened on the first Monday in Oc- 
tober, 1 85 1, and was continued until it was merged 
into Westminster College. 

At the meeting of the Synod, held at Potosi in the 
fall of 1851, on motion of the Rev. J. L. Yantis, D.D., 
it was 'unanimously resolved, "That w^e rise up and 
build." Messrs. Hamilton R. Gamble, William Pro- 
vines, James Young, M. P. Cayce, James Sterritt, S. 
S. Watson, P. B. Reed, John G. Miller, and Edward 
M. Samuel were appointed commissioners to obtain 
bids for the location of the college. This was done, 
and at the meeting of the Synod in 1852, Richmond, 
Boonville, St. Charles, and Fulton contended for the 
location. Fulton and Richmond were the chief com- 
petitors, as the other places offered but small induce- 
ments in the way of subscriptions. The offer of 
Fulton was, the eighteen acres of land on which the 
college now stands, and fifteen thousand three hun- 
dred and ninety-one dollars ($15,391), guaranteed by 
the citizens of the town and count}^ ; twenty thou- 



200 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

sand dollars to be raised in scholarships ; with a 
good strong Presbyterian influence in the communi- 
ty. Richmond's bid was less than this. The vote 
stood, Fulton, thirty -two; Richmond, eighteen; 
Boonville, three ; St. Charles, three. 

The charter for the college was approved February 
23» 1853. Under the charter the board met March 
19, 1853, and elected Wm. Van Doren professor, and 
Nathan C. Kouns assistant professor. It was re- 
solved that the first session commence on the first 
Monday in May, 1853, and that the tuition fees be 
the salaries of the teachers. These steps, however, 
were only preliminary to the real opening of the 
college. 

The building was erected by Solomon Jenkins, the 
corner-stone being laid July 4, 1853, on which occa- 
sion Dr. Ryley spoke, and the Rev. N. L. Rice, 
D.D., delivered his famous address on "The Three 
Great Interests of Man." The name " Westminster 
College" was chosen by the Synod, on the motion of 
the Rev. H. P. Goodrich, D.D., former president of 
Marion College. For most of the facts concerning 
the founding and early history of this college, we 
are indebted to the Rev. W. W. Robertson, D.D. 

In the fall of 1853, at the meeting of the board held 
during the sessions of Synod at Liberty, Dr. Rice 
was elected president, but declined. The following 
March the Rev. William L. Breckinridge, D.D., was 
chosen president, and William Van Doreri, the Rev. 
S. S. Laws, and Thomas D. Baird were elected pro- 
fessors. Mr, Laws was at the time preaching at 
Lexington, Mo., and declined a call to that church 
to accept the professorship at a much smaller salary. 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 20i 

The call for Dr. Breckinridge's services was prosecuted 
before the Presbytery of Louisville by Dr. E. T. 
Baird and Professor Laws. They were unsuccessful, 
but Dr. Bullock facetiously remarked that they had 
the argument, but the white handkerchiefs (alluding 
to the ladies present and weeping in the church) beat 
them. 

The college was founded by the Old School Synod, 
is owned and managed now by the Southern Synod of 
Missouri, and is located at Fulton. No more judi- 
cious site could have been chosen,- as it is the 
centre of the principal Presbyterian element of the 
State, is a healthy locality, and is a community noted 
for its intelligence, morality, enterprise, and hospital- 
ity. 

Rev. W. W. Robertson, D.D., Hon. Preston B. 
Reed, and Dr. Alfred A. Ryley were probably the 
principal agents in originating this college Its first 
and largest endowment was due to the energy and 
financial skill of President Laws. The original 
board of trustees consisted of these gentlemen and 
Joseph Charless, Revs. John G. Fackler, R. L. Sym- 
ington, John F. Cowan, S. J. P. Anderson, D.D., 
William P. Cochran, D.D., A. V. C. Schenck, 
D.D., and D. Coulter, D.D., Hons. H. R. Gamble, 
S. S. Watson, E. M. Samuel, John G. Miller, Drs. 
William Provines and H. R. Smith, and Mr. James 
Whiteside. Six of these are still living, but the Rev. 
Dr. Robertson is the only one now connected with 
the board. He has been a member continuously from 
the first, and has never been absent from any of its 
regular meetings. 

The faculty, as announced in the first annual cata- 

9* 



202 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

logue, consisted of William H. Van Doren, A.M., 
Rev. Samuel S. Laws, A.M., and Thomas D. Baird, 
A.M., professors, with James G. Smith tutor. Profes- 
sor William H. Van Doren was a professional teacher 
who had taught in Lexington, Mo., and who had been 
in charge of the Male Academy in Fulton, which 
was the forerunner of the college. 

The same catalogue shows an attendance of one 
hundred and fourteen pupils during the year 1854-55. 
This was a remarkable beginning. The students are not 
classified, so that we could not tell how many were in 
the regular college classes, except for the distinct 
statement in the catalogue that " about half the 
number" were pursuing the higher studies of the 
college proper. This is a good proportion ; for in 
the year 1879-80, of the ninety-five students enrolled, 
only forty-six belonged to the regular college classes. 
The pupils came from a wider area than we should 
have supposed. There were four from beyond the 
limits of the State, thirty-one more from outside of 
Callaway County, and thirty-three from Callaway 
outside of Fulton. Three fifths, therefore, of these 
first students were not from the town where the col- 
lege was located. In the year 1879-80, over two thirds 
were from outside of Fulton. 

It is a matter of interest to compare the curriculum 
of studies, as laid down in this first catalogue, with 
that now prescribed in the college. The general 
statement may be made that there is no marked 
difference. In mathematics, physics, and metaphysics 
they are substantially the same. In Greek, the cata- 
logue of 1853-4 is peculiar in prescribing the Cyro- 
paedia, the Gospels and the Acts, Plato's Contra 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 203 

Atheos, Longinus' De Sublimifate, Aristotle's Art of 
Poetry, and Demosthenes' De Corona. The curriculum 
of 1880-81 has peculiar to it in Greek, the Anabasis, 
Herodotus, the Odyssey, Plato's Crito and Phsedo, 
and Comparative Philology. In Latin, the first cata- 
logue's course contains Ovid, Horace's Epodes, and 
Terence, which are not laid down in the curriculum 
1 880-8 [. On the other hand, this latter has Nepos, 
Quintus Curtius, Christian Authors, Seneca, and 
Pliny's Letters, not found in the original course. It 
is a striking fact that the catalogue of 1853-54 lays 
down among the preparatory studies, prior to the 
freshman year, Caesar, Ovid, Sallust, Virgil, and 
Cicero's Select Orations. There are but few colleges 
which would require so much Latin as the condition 
of entering the lowest class. 

Among the students of the first year were T. P. 
Boteler, J. P. McAfee, James Rickenbaugh, Revs. H. 
M. Corbett, Alexander Machett, and John A. McAfee, 
Hons. John A. Hockaday, L. W. McKinney, and 
Robert McPheeters, John H. Jameson, Esq., Prof. 
Joseph Watkins, and Drs. E. M. Kerr and B. A. Wat- 
son. 

The Philologic Society was organized the first year 
of the college. 

The original endowment, as usual in those days of 
comparative poverty, was upon the specious, but 
we think necessarily fatal, scholarship plan, proposed 
by the Rev. S. J. P. Anderson, D.D., who stated that 
Alexander Campbell had in this w^ay sucessfuly en- 
dowed Bethany College. One hundred and fifty dol- 
lars gave the privilege of a full college course to the 
purchaser of the scholarship, and to all his sons after 



204 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

him, one at a time, for twenty years. If the purchaser 
had no children, then he might send any pupil, one at 
a time, for twenty years. The idea was to sell twelve 
hundred of these scholarships, and in this way to 
raise one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Such 
a scheme is, in our judgment, a delusion, and must 
work disastrously whenever attempted. Some wiser 
men, and more successful financiers than we, think 
that the failure was not the fault of the plan, but of 
the working of the plan. In connection with the 
finances, it is an interesting fact to record, that, in 
the report of the board of trustees made to the synod 
in 1859, the college is shown to be possessed of $102,- 
898.78 of permanent endowment property, not in- 
cluding Dr. Wayland's conveyance of land, out of 
which w^as subsequently realized in money $3000 ; 
and that the current annual income is said to be 
110,298,12. 

Despite the loss of its original endowment, West- 
minster College has had a long, prosperous, and useful 
career. It has diffused the light of accurate, sub- 
stantial Christian knowledge for nearly thirty years. 
Its faculty of instruction has embraced some remark- 
able men, and the average ability has been very high. 
Its alumni number less than one hundred and twenty, 
an average of about four a year. This is an honor- 
able record, far more so than if there were twice as 
many. Of these graduates, two are merchants, two 
editors, eight farmers, seventeen doctors, eighteen 
teachers, twenty-six lawyers, and thirty-one ministers 
of the gospel. At least four have been members of 
the State Legislature, five have been made Doctors of 
Divinity, two have been Attorney-Generals of the State, 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, 205 

sixteen have been professors or presidents of reputa- 
ble schools or colleges. 

It is in a prosperous condition now. Though by no 
means adequately endowed, it is out of debt and has 
a fair financial foundation. The multiplication of 
Normal Schools and the great prosperity of the State 
University have together contributed to deplete the 
attendance at the several denominational colleges of 
the State. Westminster, however, has, in proportion 
to the strength of the Synod that sustains it, the most 
encouraging attendance of them all. Three of its 
five professors are its. own graduates, and are men 
who would honor their specialties in the best insti- 
tutions of the East The grade of scholarship which 
it demands and secures in its pupils is very credit- 
able. The moral influences surrounding it are the 
very best. The local community is noted for its in- 
telligence, piety, and enthusiastic interest in the 
young men gathered there for instruction. less 
than a half dozen of its pupils have died during 
their connection with the college, since its founda- 
tion. 

We have written thus in detail about Westminster 
College because Mr. Kemper's life from 185610 1861 
was in connection with it. He had previously 
taught in Boonville twelve years. Not one term of 
all that time had been a failure. Indeed the whole 
of it was a grand, triumphant success. If he wished 
a large school, he had it, up to one hundred and 
thirty-one pupils. If he preferred a small, select 
school, he had it, down to thirty, the number beyond 
which he would not go. He had acqidred valuable 
property in Boonville, consisting of good lots well 



2q6 the life of prof. KEMPER. 

located, and suitably Improved to meet the wants of 
his school. 

In view of these things, we naturally ask why he 
consented to make so radical a change in his educa- 
tional plans. Mrs. Kemper says that she advised 
him to do so, for two reasons chiefly. For his health 
she thought the change advisable. The personal 
labor incident to a boarding-school is necessarily 
very great. When the principal undertakes to do 
most if not all of the teaching, and to bear all 
the burden incident to discipline, to the boarding- 
house, and to the finances, it is enough to task the 
strength of a combined mental and physical giant. 
As she believed that Mr. Kemper was exhausting 
himself prematurely by this excessive labor and care, 
she thought it wise that he should relieve himself 
of it. 

Again, it is manifest that he could find little leisure 
for favorite studies while oppressed with all the 
cares of a boarding-school. We know from his 
journal that he had serious thoughts of authorship 
upon several subjects which he thought specially in- 
teresting and important. It was impossible, how- 
ever, to carry out these washes if he continued to do 
the drudgery incident to the headship of a family 
school. This v^as also an inducement to him to ac- 
cept the literary luxury of a professorship. 

Another special inducement which doubtless ex- 
erted some influence upon him was the fact that the 
president of Westminster found it necessary to go 
into the field and actively aid in the effort to endow 
the institution. His place must be supplied. It was 
difficult to find one suitable for such an emergency. 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 207 

When appeal was made to Mr. Kemper by President 
Laws himself, it doubtless seemed to him a direction 
of Providence. 

He was not favorable to making moves or changes 
of any kind, and Mrs. Kemper says that he never 
made one without the remark, " This is the last move 
I wish to make until I am taken to my grave." 
While God's providences are over all His people, 
and He doubtless directs their paths, yet it is a ques- 
tion with us whether this was a wise change for Mr. 
Kemper. The reason for this opinion we shall 
briefly give. The duties of a college professor and 
of the principal of a family school are very different. 
Some men are suited to one, and some are adapted 
to the other. Mr. Kemper could have filled any one 
of a half dozen chairs in a college with profit to his 
pupils and honor to himself. Yet he might not have 
been eminently useful in the one he undertook to 
fill ; his was not the mind of the specialist, but the 
comprehensive and accurate intelligence of the broad" 
er and more general scholar. Moreover, the school 
principal is an educator, while the college professor 
is simply a teacher. We shall discuss this point 
more fully hereafter. Suffice it to say here that the 
work of the educator is inestimably more important 
than that of the teacher. There are many teachers? 
but very few educators. Mr. Kemper was one of the 
most successful of the few. In our judgment, there- 
fore, his was the humbler, more laborious sphere of 
the school principal, rather than the higher, more 
luxurious, but less useful chair of the professor. It 
is our conviction that such was his own opinion. 
In the summer of 1856 he made all of his arrange- 



2o8 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

ments to reopen the Family School as usual, in the 
fall. He had engaged all the boarders whom he 
could accomm.odate. When his plans were thus com- 
plete, the overture came in August from Westminster 
College, urgently asking him to accept a life position 
in the faculty, and to assume the duties of the general 
administration during the temporary absence of Pres- 
ident Laws. He determined to accept the position as 
a call from Providence to devote the remainder of 
his life to the service of the college. 

An incident occurred, in connection with his re- 
moval from Boonville, which deserves to be recorded. 
Mr. Kemper was always courteous in his business 
transactions, and, being perfectly honest himself, was 
very slow to suspect knavery in those with whom he 
dealt. He never went to law, but settled all diffi- 
culties by arbitration. But he was not pusillanimous, 
and would not suffer himself to be cheated. The 
incident to which we refer occurred when he sold his 
personal effects, preparatory to his removal to Fulton. 
A shopman in the town had bought some of the 
household furniture. Mr. Kemper took the bill, with 
the receipt of payment on it, as a delicate way of 
collecting the amount, and handed it to him. The 
man examined it a moment, and then said, "Yes, it's 
all right — ' Received payment.' " He placed it at 
once in a drawer, and was about locking it, when Mr. 
Kemper, comprehending the case, threw off his coat 
and said, " You dare, sir, to do that trick ! I will 
beat you until you will be glad to give back the 
bill." The sharper was so overawed by this un- 
expected turn of affairs that he readily paid the 
amount. 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 209 

For the first year, during the absence of the presi- 
dent, Mr. Kemper could not have found that he had 
materially relieved himself, so far as care and work 
were concerned. Mrs. Kemper was absent, visiting 
her relatives in the East. He took with him twelve 
of the boarders, whom he had engaged for his Boon- 
ville school. These were under his direct personal 
charge, boarding with him, and were therefore, as 
much of a care to him as they would have been in 
his Family School. The general duties of the exec- 
utive head of the college devolved upon him. These 
were as complicated, as delicate, as onerous as those 
he had left behind. He was compelled to do miscel- 
laneous work as a teacher. As the president was 
absent, he was expected to take a part of his classes. 
His special charge was Greek. But in addition to 
Greek and metaphysics he must take a share of the 
natural sciences, as that chair was, for two years of 
the t ime, vacant. Mrs. Kemper has furnished the 
following, as a list of the branches taught by him 
while at Westminster College : — Butler's Analogy, 
Constitution of the U. S., Composition, English 
Grammar, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Mineralogy, Zo- 
ology, Natural Philosophy, Botany, First Lessons in 
Greek and Reader, Greek Gramm.ar, Literature, 
Prose Composition, Memorabilia, Anabasis, Iliad, 
Longinus, Plato, Aristotle's Ethics, Sallust, Livy, and 
Horace. Of course he could not have taught all 
these at the same time ; but first and last during the 
five years he spent in Fulton, he had classes in all of 
these branches. With the care of his boarders, the 
executive duties, and the wide range of classes taught, 
we can see that his position was very far from being 



2IO THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

a sinecure, and that the objects for which he had 
made the change were not likely to be realized. 

It is an interesting fact that President Laws insisted 
that Mr. Kemper should deliver the diplomas to the 
graduates of 1857, and he actually did so. This was 
honorable to both the real and the acting president. 

Mr. Kemper was the professor of Greek. That was 
the chair to which he was elected, and whose duties 
he discharged afterward, as we shall see. That this 
had been his favorite study and was his choice of all 
the branches of the college cours^ we do not know. 
It is probable that he was assigned to it chiefly be- 
cause it was the chair which had not been otherwise 
filled. He could have taught Latin, mathematics, or 
English equally as well, inasmuch as he had em- 
braced a full course in all of these, among the 
branches pursued in his Boonville school. He could 
also have filled the chair of physics, for Olmsted's 
University Philosophy and Astronomy were text- 
books that he had used. 

As to metapliysics, embracing mental, moral, and 
political science, he had given it but limited attention 
at Boonville. This is a strange, and would be an un- 
accountable fact, were it not true that a similar 
neglect of this branch of science is very general. 
One of the best endowed of the private colleges of 
Missouri has never paid any attention to it — that is, 
has never had a special teacher for it. Westminster 
College, since Dr. Rice's departure in 1874, has suffer- 
ed its Potts professorship of metaphysics, founded in 
1858, to go unfilled, distributing its duties among the 
other chairs. In our public schools and academies 
the same neglect is quite common. No better proof 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 211 

could be given of the materialistic tendencies of our 
age and country than this. Pope has said, " The 
proper study of mankind is man," Sir William 
Hamilton put over the entrance to his lecture-room 
these words of Phavorinus : — " On earth there is 
nothing great but man. In man there is nothing 
great but mind." If these are true sentiments, 
and we believe them to be, it is surely a gross 
mistake that we should allow other things, far 
less dignified and important, to crowd out the study 
of the human mind and its higher, spiritual interests. 
Mathematics, languages, physics, are all of them im- 
portant. We say no word in derogation of any one 
of them. But surely the mysteries of the human 
spirit, which claims kinship and likeness to the in- 
finite, are not to be despised and thrust into a corner, 
and made to wait till these others are served. " Know 
thyself," the Grecian sage proclaimed twenty odd 
hundred years ago. Shall we of the nineteenth 
Christian century answer, No, we will give ourselves 
to the material ; we will content ourselves with " The 
Dirt Philosophy".? "M7 yevoirol'' 

From his election to the chair of Greek in West- 
minster College, Mr. Kemper is legitimately entitled 
to be called Professor Kemper. If we shall fail to do 
so, we plead two excuses as palliations of the of- 
fence. For over nine years in daily association with 
him ; looking up to him as more than father or 
mother, the embodiment and representation to us of 
human law, we learned to reverence and obey him as 
Mr. Kemper. So he was to us, to the day of his 
death. It sounds sweeter and better, because it 
brings us nearer to him, and recalls more vividly the 



212 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

golden memories of long ago. Moreover, it was his 
own favorite designation. His wife so addressed 
him, and so speaks of him. He taught even his latest 
and youngest pupils so to call him. He had a decided 
disrelish for the title Professor. Can we blame him ? 

How many professors do you suppose there are in 
Missouri to-day ? We are all sovereigns, and there- 
fore we must all have a title. How many men are 
there, outside of the penitentiary, that have none ? 
How many inside that have ? The whole matter of 
titles has become a sublime farce. Captains, majors, 
colonels, generals, judges, squires, doctors, honor- 
ables, and professors are as thick as "autumn leaves 
in Vallombrosa." The commune comes to the help 
of the meagre, untitled remnant left, and salutes 
each of the canaille as citizen. So if it be not General, 
or Judge, or Doctor, or Professor Stubbins, it shall 
be at least Citizen Stubbins. 

In the flourishing town of Slater, in Saline County, 
Missouri, we had occasion lately to need the ser- 
vices of a tailor. There were two in the town, and 
we were politely shown to the shop of the nearest. 
Feelings of awe almost overcame us as we read the 
golden legend upon the sign, "Professor Dietrich 
O' Blatherskite." We doubted whether we should 
obtrude ourself upon a gentleman of such dignity, 
as it was only a trivial rent in the pocket of a duster 
that needed his professional attention. We boldly 
made the venture, however, and to our great relief 
found the professor bland and accommodating. He 
condescended to mend the rent, and our admiration 
was complete when we found that he charged only 
one dollar for fifteen minutes' work. It was nearly 






^:^l^<^^t^ 



U-r.^ ^ijSS^S'.rJ.tii-Sonslj-^arcla.y-SirJJrr. 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 213 

fifteen minutes of his precious time that it took. Let 
us think of it ; Professor Dietrich O'Blatherskite of 
Slater, will not only mend your duster, but he will 
do so for the modest sum of one dollar for fifteen 
minutes, four dollars an hour, thirty-two dollars a 
day, ten thousand dollars a year. Is it not strange 
that Mr. Kemper refused to be called professor? 

Is a reform of this evil impossible ? It probably is ; 
but it would be a wise move if effectual steps could 
be taken to reduce the awarding of titles to something 
like a reasonable law. For example, let no man be 
saluted with a military title unless he is either in 
actual service or has won his name upon the tented 
field of a real campaign. Let Honorable be prefixed 
to the name of those only, who are at the time hold- 
ing prominent official position. Let no man be 
called Professor unless he is the actual incumbent 
of a chair, in a regularly chartered college. 

There were associated with Mr. Kemper, as his 
colleagues in Westminster College, three remarkable 
men. At their head stood the president of the col- 
lege, the Rev. Samuel Spahr Laws, LL.D. It is not 
too much to say that Dr. Laws is one of the first 
men w^ho have ever claimed citizenship in Missouri. 
If he had turned his thoughts to war he would have 
been as persistent as Grant, as invincible as Stonewall 
Jackson, as wise a stategist as Lee. If he had be- 
come a lawyer he would have mastered its profound- 
est principles, and have passed into history as an 
eminent jurist. If he had courted politics he would 
have become a Senator, and taken high rank as a 
practical legislator, as well as an expounder of the 
Constitution. Medicine would never have suited 



214 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

him. In early life he was a minister of the gospel 
and the successful pastor of a church. If he had 
continued in the pulpit, he would have discussed its 
grand themes with consummate ability, and rendered 
plain to the common mind the subtleties of theology. 
He is a graduate in the sciences, a graduate in 
theology, a graduate in law, a graduate in medicine. 
There are but few men in this or any other country 
who have won these four diplomas. Moreover, he 
is a skilled financier and a practical inventor. He 
patented an instrument which is used in every city 
of this country, and which has brought him an ample 
competency. But he is not a preacher, nor a lawyer, 
nor a doctor, nor a financier, nor an inventor. 
These are his recreations and accomplishments. He 
is a teacher and an executive, a professor and a pres- 
ident. As an instructor, we have never known his 
superior. Comparing him as such, with the great 
men whom we knew at the University of Virginia 
and the Princeton Theological Seminary, we pro- 
nounce him the peer of the best of them. The ab- 
struse points of metaphysics never became lucid to 
us until we heard him set them forth. As an execu- 
tive, his ability is proven by the prosperity of West- 
minster College during his administration, and by 
the grand success he is achieving at our State Uni- 
versity. President Laws is, without doubt, one of 
the really great men whom our countr}^ has pro- 
duced. His is one of those mighty minds that impress 
you as having an unlimited reserve of force which 
it never needs to call into action. 

Rev. M. M. Fisher, D.D., LL.D., was the pro- 
fessor of Latin, He is now with President Laws at 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 2>i5 

the State University, in charge of the same specialty. 
That he is one of the most accomplished and success- 
ful teachers of Latin in this country is conceded by 
all who know him. That he has the affection and 
respect of every pupil whom he has ever taught is 
the universal testimony. His work on '' Latin Pro- 
nunciation" has made him known by scholars all 
over this country, and even in England. He is re- 
garded as the champion of the so-called English 
pronunciation of Latin. We think that he has made 
a mistake in adopting and advocating this system. 
It is a grief and disappointment to find him an ob- 
structionist, defending a scheme which is so unrea- 
sonable in itself, and which is condemned by the 
progressive scholarship of English Latinists. The 
idea of imposing a foreign pronunciation upon a lan- 
guage is apparently so absurd that it should require 
necessity to justify it. That any one should think 
of making English the standard of pronunciation for 
any tongue would certainly seem to any intelligent 
foreigner the acme of folly. English has no pro- 
nunciation of its own. Its anomalous oddities are 
the sport of eA^ery philologist. Rather let English 
beg an orthoepy from the law-regulated Latin, and 
not seek to impose its northern harshness upon the 
rich old father-tongue, which grew to mellow sweet- 
ness beneath the sunny skies of pellucid Italy. But 
for all this Professor Fisher is a great teacher and a 
distinguished Latinist. Mr. Kemper more than once 
said, " Professor Fisher is the best teacher of Latin 
I have ever known." 

Professor Alfred Marshall Mayer, a native of Bal- 
timore, held the Charless professorship of physics. 



2i6 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

The American edition of Chambers's Encyclopaedia 
says of Professor Mayer, " He was for a time one of 
the editors of the American Journtl of Science and 
A7^ts, and has published a number of contributions 
to science, of which may be noted : ' Estimation of 
the Weights of Very Small Portions of Matter,' 
1858; 'Researches in Electro-Magnetism,' 1873; 
and ' Researches in Acoustics,' 1874. Since his con- 
nection with the Stevens Institute of Technology, at 
Hoboken, N. J., he has made a specialty of acoustics, 
in which he has made many interesting experiments 
and some valuable discoveries. He has established 
the connection between the pitch and duration of 
sound, has invented a method of determining the 
comparative intensity of sounds with the same pitch, 
and has located the organs of hearing in the mos- 
quito. He has also developed new processes for 
analyzing sound, and has made researches into the 
nature of electricity." 

No Western college has ever been blessed with 
four stronger men, at one time, than Westminster, 
when Laws, Kemper, Fisher, and Mayer taught to- 
gether in her classic halls. 

When Mr. Kemper went to Fulton, it was feared 
by many of his friends that he would find it un- 
pleasant to assume the relation of a subordinate, 
and that there would likely be unpleasant friction be- 
tween him and President Laws. A teacher is neces- 
sarily an autocrat. Mr. Kemper had for so long a 
time ruled without any to share the responsibility with 
him — he was a man of such positive traits, and had 
such decided convictions as to all matters of instruc- 
tion and discipline, that it was apprehended he would 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE. 217 

not submit to the authority of a president with 
characteristics equally as pronounced as his own. 
These fears proved groundless. No two men ever 
cooperated more harmoniously than did they. This 
was chiefly due to the fact that each apprehended 
the true relations existing between them, and each 
respected the other in his sphere. Dr. Laws organ- 
ized the college on the university plan into indepen- 
dent schools. Each professor was thus made re- 
sponsible for the instruction and discipline of his 
own classes, independent of his colleagues, and was 
responsible to the board of trustees alone. The plan 
worked well in the relations of the professors to 
each other and to the president. Here is Mr. Kem- 
per's own statement, as made to the board in i860, 
and published in the catalogue for that year : " For 
the success which has attended the discipline in the 
school of Greek, a due acknowledgment should be 
made to the sagacity and efficiency of the honored 
president of the college. The division of the work of 
instruction into distinct schools has been made 
under his auspices, and has been found most satis- 
factory in practice. The respect which he commands 
in presiding over the general interests of the college 
is felt in every department, while the independence 
and supremacy of each man in his own sphere secure 
executive efficiency, and leave no reasonable occasion 
for collision with president or professors." 

The college was very prosperous during the period 
of Mr. Kemper's connection with it. One third of 
its alumni were graduated in the five years which 
cover the time of his professorate. The average at- 
tendance was largely in excess of the general aver- 
10 



2i8 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

age of its history. We have the catalogue of i860. 
It contains the names of one hundred and fifty-six 
pupils. Of these, one hundred and four were non- 
resident, representing ten States and thirty-one coun- 
ties in Missouri. Seventy-four were in the college 
proper, and nineteen were sub-freshmen. Some of 
the most distingu'shed alumni were his pupils. 
These embrace Revs. H. M. Anderson, Charles 
Fueller, J. P. Forman, R. A. Davison, T. C. Barrett, 
G. Sluter, C. B. Boyd, A. Machette, J. G. Bailey, 
John A. McAfee, E. R. Nugent, H. M. Corbett, E. P. 
Cowan, D.D., J. F. Cowan, D.D., T. Gallaher, D.D., 
and C. C. Hersman, D.D.; and Hons. John A. Flood, 
D. H. Mclntire, John A. Hockaday, and Charles R. 
Scott. Of these, we shall be pardoned for particular- 
izing Drs. John F. Cowan and C. C. Hersman, and 
Hons. D. H. Mclntire, and John A. Hockaday. 
Dr. Cowan is a "country parson," and yet is one 
of the most scholarly and cultivated gentlemen in 
Missouri. Dr. Hersman is now the honored pres- 
ident of the college, and is, with varied attainments, 
especially distinguished as one of the leading Greek 
scholars of this country. Gen. D. H. Mclntire, the 
present Attorney-General of the State, and Gen. John 
A. Hockaday, one of his predecessors in the same 
office, are two of the ablest and most prominent of 
the public men of Missouri to-day. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL, l86l-l88r. 

" Alas, poor country ] 
Almost afraid to know thyself ! It cannot 
Be called our mother, but our grave ; where nothing 
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile. 
Where sighs and groans, and shrieks that rend the air, 
Are made, not marked ; where violent sorrow seems 
A modern ecstasy ; and the dead man's knell 
Is there scarce asked for whom ; and good men's lives 
Expire before the flowers in their caps." Shakspeare. 

April 12, 1861, the Confederates of the South 
opened fire on Ft. Sumter, and it was evacuated on 
the 14th. The next day President Lincoln issued his 
call for 75,000 men to coerce the seceding States 
back into the Union. April 20, the U. S. Arsenal at 
Liberty, Missouri, was seized by the State guards. 
April 25, Captain N. Lyon moved the war stores 
from the U. S. Arsenal at St. Louis to Alton. May 
10, Captain Lyon and Colonel F. P. Blair captured 
Camp Jackson, near St. Louis, now elegantly built 
over by the city. May 21, General W. S. Harney 
for the U. S. and General Sterling Price for Mis- 
souri made a compromise of peace. June i, this 
compromise was repudiated by President Lincoln, 
Harney was removed, and General Lyon appointed 
to the command in Missouri. June 13, Governor 
C. F. Jackson issued a call for 50,000 State militia. 



2 20 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

June 17, the first battle was fought at Boonvdlle, 
General N. Lyon commanding the U. S. troops, 
and Colonel John S. Marmaduke the State forces. 
Thus was civil war inaugurated in Missouri. Jt was 
destined to continue for four long, weary, cruel, 
bloody years, growing worse and worse as the 
months wore on. The Northern States knew com- 
paratively little of the horrors of this conflict. 
While here and there a son, or brother, or father 
went forth to the battle and came not back again, 
yet they knew nothing of sanguinary battle-fields, 
of slaughtered heaps, of burning or desolated homes. 
Tiie North grew rich while all this was going on. 
Nor did the extreme South realize what a fratricidal 
contest it was, of neighbor against neighbor, of son 
against father, of brother against brother. Kentucky, 
and Missouri, and Virginia drank these bitterest 
dregs in the cup of civil war. There is not a neigh- 
borhood in Missouri where deeds of violence were not 
perpetrated on one or the other, or on both sides. 
Non-combatants were imprisoned, property of all 
kinds was stolen or destroyed, houses were burned, 
women were insulted, old men were assassinated or 
shot down like dogs in the streets or on the high- 
ways, or even while at work in their fields. Byron 
describes it : — 

" All that the mind would shrink from of excesses ; 

All that the body perpetrates of bad, 
All that we read, hear, dream of man's distresses ; 

All that the devil would do, if run stark mad ; 
All that defies the worst which pen expresses ; 

All by which hell is peopled, or as sad 
As hell — mere mortals who their power abuse, — 

Was here." 



THE KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 221 

Mr. Kemper was at Westminster College when 
this horrible struggle began. He remained there at 
his post until the close of ttie term in June, 1861. 
There were then several reasons which led to his 
resignation and return to Boonville. Chief among 
these, in the judgment of the writer, was his con- 
viction that he had made a mistake when he ex- 
changed the labors of an educator in general for 
those of a special department; that his was not the 
work of a mere contributor, but the higher mission 
of the control and guidance, of the development and 
moulding of character. Another weighty reason 
doubtless was, that in some cases of discipline, in- 
volving the sons of prominent persons, the faculty 
were not sustained by the other authorities of the 
college. It greatly galled him to be censured for 
doing his duty by those who (jught to have sustained 
him. 

The ostensible causes for the change were : that 
the war probably would cause the suspension of 
the college ; that it was a time for every man 
to seek the natural harbor of his home; and 
that his school property in Boonville had been 
deserted, unpaid for by the purchaser. We are told 
by Mrs. Kemper that it was his purpose to dispose 
of the property in Boonville and retire to his farm, 
about five miles south of the city. There he would 
open a small select school for twelve boarders, 
whose education, in all of its details, he could him- 
self personally supervise. This fact shows conclu- 
sively the bent of his mind, and his realization of 
his appropriate work. As he was unable to make 
any suitable disposition of the building in town, he 



222 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

was compelled to abandon the project of the country 
school, and to occupy the old premises again. In 
this his friends are able to see God's wise and gra- 
cious superintending providence. Had he gone to 
the country, it is quite pobsible, if not probable, that 
he would have fallen a victim to the spirit of lawless- 
ness which prevailed and which held no human 
life as too costly a sacrifice, 

A word may be said here as to Mr. Kemper's 
position on the issues involved in the war. He was 
Southern born and Southern reared. He had never 
lived in the North. His associations had been almost 
exclusively with Southern people of the Border 
States. His father's family in Virginia were actively 
enlisted for the Confederacy. His brother was a 
general in the army of Lee. On the other hand, his 
journal shows that he was favorably impressed by 
the Northern society and customs with which he 
came in contact at Cincinnati, on his first journey 
West. He had been under the influence of Dr. 
Nelson, and regarded him with admiring veneration. 
He had chosen as his wife a lady from New England. 
We know, from his journal, that he considered the 
Southern movement injudicious, in its management 
at least. Putting it all together, we are satisfied 
that his sympathies were with the South and his 
judgment with the North, as was the case with 
many intelligent people on both sides of the line. 
But we are not left altogether to conjecture; for 
we are told that one of his pupils asked him during 
the war, '' Mr. Kemper, what are you .?" (meaning, 
of course, Unionist or Secessionist). He at once 
replied, " I am your teacher, sir." 



THE KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 223 

The school was reopened in Boonviile Sept. 16, 
1 86 1. There were but two boarders at the outset, but 
the number increased to about a dozen during the 
year. There were also enrolled seventy-one day 
scholars. 

For the first time in the history of the school, girls 
were admitted as pupils. This was doubtless due to 
an extreme pressure brought to bear on Mr. Kemper, 
by reason of the fact that there was no suitable school 
for girls in Boonviile during those troublous war 
times. We are satisfied that this was the case, from 
the fact that the privileges of admission were granted 
young women during the four years of the war only. 
Though one or two were afterward received, it was 
as a special personal favor. It was a surprise to us 
when we first learned that he had adopted the prin- 
ciple of the co-education of the sexes. We did not 
then know that it was a temporary and, as it were, 
forced arrangement. There are good, and wise, and 
experienced teachers who accept and practice the 
doctrine of co-education. There are others, more 
wise, who reject it. " Woman is not undeveloped 
man, but diverse." She is different physically, men- 
tally, morally, from her more robust brother. The 
views of Clarke, as given in " Sex in Education," are 
sound, as every physiologist and psychologist, as 
every observant parent and teacher knows or ought 
to know. 

The peculiarities of each sex do not manifest them- 
selves in their fulness at the first. For this reason it 
is practicable in our public district schools, and in the 
preparatory classes of our colleges, to unite them. 
But as soon as boys show themselves masculine, and 



224 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

girls develop the physical and moral peculiarities of 
womanhood, it is best for both that they should sepa- 
rate. For reasons of flesh and blood, this is expedient. 
For mental considerations, it is wisest. The mascu- 
line mind is stronger, and is capable of a longer and 
more exhausting effort. The feminine is quicker, 
earlier developed, and sooner exhausted. Here and 
there a girl can go, pari passu^ with a boy through the 
regular college course. Such cases, however, are 
rare and exceptional. When done the boy comes out 
fresh, and stronger than when he began. The girl 
runs the risk of finding herself at the close a nervous 
wreck. The time usually allotted to a school-girl's 
college course embraces one of the critical periods of 
her life. She cannot bear an undue strain upon her 
energies as she is entering upon her maturity. The 
majority of girls are not physically nor mentally able 
to pursue a full collegiate course. 

For moral reasons it is wisest to keep them sepa- 
rate. "Familiarity breeds contempt." Girls lose 
the soft blush of feminine delicacy by daily contact, 
as competing companions, with rough boys. The 
boys lose the high and gallant regard which they 
would otherwise have for the softer sex, by being 
brought into constant intercourse and direct rivalry 
with them. The tendencies, at least, in both cases 
are in the direction indicated. 

Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith Colleges for women 
are grand institutions, and are wholly devoted to 
separate female education. All honor to the noble 
men and women who founded them. They are, how- 
ever, above the intellectual reach of the mass of 
student girls in this country. There are compara- 



THE KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 225 

tively few who can pursue the course prescribed in 
any one of the three, without serious risk to her con- 
stitution. But Cornell and other colleges and uni- 
versities which invite young women to enter the 
regular classes with men, and strive not only for the 
diploma but also for the class honors, are, we think, 
doing an injury to the physical, intellectual, social, 
and moral future of our country. These are the 
harbingers of female suffrage, female lawyers, female 
lecturers, female politicians, female lobbyists, female 
drunkards, female ruin. Where are we to find our 
future sweethearts, wives, and mothers ? 

" To rear the graces into second life ; 
To give society its highest taste ; 
Well-ordered home man's best delight to make, 
And by submissive wisdom, modest skill, 
With every gentle, care-eluding art. 
To raise the virtues, animate the bliss, 
And sweeten all the toils of human life : 
This be the female dignity and praise." 

Mr. Kemper associated with him.self in the joint 
management of the school Mr. Edwin H. Taylor, 
A.M., a graduate of Dartmouth College and a 
brother of Mrs. Kemper. This arrangement lasted 
four years, and during its continuance the school 
bore the name of "Kemper & Taylor's Institute." 
With the exception of Mrs. Kemper, this is the first in- 
stance of his securing help from any other source than 
his own pupils. There was a time when he and Mr. 
William T. Davis contemplated conducting the school 
together, but the arrangement was not consummated. 
It may seem strange to some that he always preferred 
his own pupils as assistant teachers. Nothing, how- 



2 26 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

ever, is more natural and proper. Where a principal 
has original and peculiar ideas about the management 
of his school (as every really successful one has), he 
needs some one to aid him whose ideas and habits 
are in sympathy with his own. Where can he as 
certainly secure these as in those selected pupils who 
have imbibed his principles and are en rapport with 
him in carrying them out ? It is the highest expres- 
sion which a principal can give of his confidence in 
his own work, when he voluntarily uses as his helpers 
in preference to others, those whom he himself has 
trained. 

The year 1862-63 began Sept. 15, 1862. During its 
continuance there were enrolled one hundred and 
twenty-four pupils in all the departments. Of these, 
twenty were girls. 

This year is noted for the corps of teachers engaged. 
At their head stood the principals, Mr. Kemper and 
Mr. Taylor. Then there were Mrs. Kemper, Miss 
Georgia Bliss, William H. Allison, Hamilton Galla- 
gher, and W. H. H. Hill. Miss Bliss was from 
Brattleboro, Vermont. She taught in the school this 
year, returned to it in 1868, and taught five more years, 
when she was married to the Hon. John Cosgrove. 
That she should have had a relish for such a school, 
and that she should have been kept by Mr. Kemper 
as a helper for six years, shows that she was a woman 
and a teacher of genuine merit, and that Mr. Kemper 
acted wisely in occasionally going outside of his own 
pupils to secure his assistants. It also clearly proves 
that, in the judgment of Mr. Kemper, there are wom- 
en who are adequate to the most thorough drill as 
teachers. 



THE KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 227 

From the time of her marriage Mrs. Kemper has 
been not a constant but an efficient helper in the 
class-room. She has taught Latin, Greek, mental 
and moral philosophy, botany, vocal music, and 
drawing. The last three were her special depart- 
ment. Miss Bliss had charge of the higher mathe- 
matics and Latin. Messrs. Hill and Gallagher 
were pupils, and at the same time tutors. Mr. 
Allison, an old pupil and the cousin of Mr. Kemper, 
had charge of the primary department. 

For the school session of 1863-64 there were entered 
eighty-nine pupils, of whom twenty were girls. The 
teachers were the same as the preceding year, with 
the exception of Miss Bliss. 

In 1864-65 the primary department was dispensed 
with, and the school was reduced to its lowest limits, 
only thirty pupils being admitted. 

Mr. E. H. Taylor having lost his wife, determined 
to return to the East. He accordingly dissolved his 
connection with the school in June, 1865. This made 
it necessary to change the name, and so from 1865 
to 1874 it was called " Kemper's Family School." 
It was the purpose to strictly limit the number of 
pupils. As the buildings were then, it was thought 
that about a dozen boarders and thirty day-scholars 
would be the proper numbers. We accordingly find 
that for the year 1865-66 there were forty-six enrolled. 
Mrs. Kemper refers to this as a specially happy 
year. "It was" she says, "truly 2i family school j for 
all sat around the same table to study the night 
lessons. Those who could spare the time from their 
studies gathered around the open fire to talk, and 
laugh, and read the papers before bed-time. The 



28 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

doctor was not needed for a single person during 
the year, and there was not a case of discipline in the 
school." Among the pupils were Uncas McCluer 
and Hon. James Gibson, now Mayor of Kansas City. 
Of the former gentleman, now the Rev. Uncas 
McCluer, of Virginia, Mrs. Kemper writes: "I re- 
member, as though it were yesterday, when Uncas 
McCluer, of St. Charles, applied for admission. 
Mr. Kemper was not at home. I told him that I was 
sure we could not take him, for we had already 
taken two or three over our limits. He very com- 
placently said, if we had taken any over our limited 
number, we could easily take one more. He did 
remain, making our number just sixteen. A great 
comfort and help this same Uncas McCluer was to us, 
for he had such a good influence over all the others." 
There were ten counties in Missouri represented in 
the pupils of this year. 

In the summer of 1866 the school-room, now used 
as a study-hall and detached from the main building, 
was put up. This added to the lodging capacity of 
the boarding-house. 

The session, which opened September, 1866, 
witnessed the enrollment of fifty-five pupils, of 
whom there were about twenty boarders. The 
States of Virginia, Mississippi, and Louisiana were 
represented, besides a number of counties in 
Missouri. 

The session of 1867-68 enrolled sixty-four pupils. 
As the number had increased, it was found nec- 
essary to secure the assistance of Mr. Roberdeau 
Allison, a cousin of Mr. Kemper and one of the 
original pupils of the school. For several years 



THE KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 229 

there had been no girls in attendance, but this 
session there were eight admitted. 

Since the year 1854, when the writer dissolved his 
connection with the school, he lias not thought it 
best to call particular attention to any individual 
pupil. He must be allowed, however, to deviate 
from this rule in the case of Mr. T. A. Johnston. 
This gentleman became connected with the school 
first in 1867, as a student. He was graduated in 
1869. He remained two years longer as a post-grad- 
uate and tutor. He entered the senior class of the 
University at Colum.bia in 1871, and was graduated 
in 1872, receiving A.M. in 1875. He was invited to 
accept a position in the University, but preferred the 
work at Boonville, where he was, from the fall of 
1872, associated with Mr. Kemper in the joint man- 
agement of the school as Junior Principal, until 
Mr. Kemper's death. He was selected by our 
revered teacher as, of all his pupils, the one best 
fitted to be trained as his successor. He now wears 
the mantle of the master worthily, successfully. No 
higher honor could we give him. He'is a gentle- 
man, a Christian, a scholar, a teacher, an educator. 

Only twenty-nine pupils were entered during the 
session of 1868-69. Mr. R. Allison ceased to teach, 
and Miss Georgia Bliss, now Mrs. Cosgrove, re- 
turned to the school, and continued with it for the 
next five years. Green Majors was a pupil of this 
year, and his name suggests the following very in- 
teresting incident, related by Mrs. Kemper as one 
of her pleasant memories : — 

"The last day of the year 1869 a pleasant com- 
pany were assembled at the dinner-table, and among 



230 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

them Mr. Alexander Majors, the father of one of 
our students. Mr. Majors was a man of rare interest, 
a successful business man, and an earnest Christian. 
Without any advantages to acquire an education, he 
yet possessed fascinating powers of conversation, 
and wielded an influence for good over all about 
him. 

" He made a large fortune before the war, owning 
horses and wagons that traversed the vast Western 
plains. He would employ no driver who drank 
liquor or used profane language, and as far as 
possible he had Christian men in his service. His 
men were bound to him by strong ties, for he was 
in the habit of calling them together before every 
trip and conversing with them separately about 
their private affairs ; and then, while they all knelt 
down, he commended them to the care and keeping 
of the God of the universe, their kind Heavenly 
Father. His power was so great over these rough 
teamsters that it was rare for his rules to be broken. 

'' During the war he met with heavy losses, and 
called himself a poor man, although managing quite 
an extensive business, and possessing means that 
made him very independent and useful. 

" In the parlor he had entertained us wnth inci- 
dents and startling events of his busy life, and at 
the dinner-table we had discussed topics of interest. 
Just before we were ready to leave the table, Mr. 
Majors remarked, ' This is the last day of the year, 
and on the morrow we shall separate, never all to 
meet again ; and it is more than probable, before 
the last day of another year, some of our number 
will have passed away from earth. Now, that this 



THE KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 231 

day may be remembered by us all, as a golden link in 
memory's chain, let us, before leaving the table, go 
around and ask each one what words that our Sav- 
iour spoke while upon earth have impressed us 
most deeply, or afforded us most comfort in all our 
trials and disappointments. Now, Mr. Kemper, let 
us hear from you first. 

" Mr. Kemper answered, ' Come unto me, all 
ye that labor and are heavy laden ; and I will give 
you rest' (Matt. 11 : 28). 

" Rev. Mr. Jeffries sat next, and he quoted John 
14 : 27 : 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give 
unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. 
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid.' 

"Professor E. P. Lamkin was called upon, and 
he replied, ' Whosoever therefore shall confess me be- 
fore men, him will I confess also before my Father 
which is in heaven' (Matt. 10 : 32). 

" Mrs. Lamkin quoted John 6 : 37 : ' And him that 
Cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.' 

"Miss Georgia Bliss said, 'I cannot recall any 
particular verse, but the whole of John 14 comforts 
me most.' 

" Miss Gertrude Bliss, who had been deeply inter- 
ested in Mr. Majors' conversation, had left the table 
just before this subject was introduced, and was so 
much distressed about it that she requested me to 
write down the conversation and quotations, so that 
she might add it to her book containing the Life of 
Mr. Alexander Majors^ which she promised to write 
as soon as she could collect the materials. Miss 
Gertrude was a young lady of cultured intellect and 



232 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

refined feelings, and shrank with horror from anything 
coarse and rude. She was charmed beyond measure 
with the polish and piety of a man who could 
scarcely read or write, and who had passed nearly all 
of his life in the frontiers of barbarism. So she 
had asked him to let her take notes while he talked, 
and she felt that she had lost an interesting inter- 
view. 

" Mrs. Kemper was next in order, and she said, * I 
have never thought of any of Christ's sayings, as re- 
gards choosing the best or most comforting, and 
will only give one that is very cheering, and seems 
proper to an occasion of feasting. This is Christ's 
words to the woman at the well of Samaria : ' Who- 
soever drinketh of this water shall thirst again ; but 
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give 
him, shall never thirst ' (John 4 : 13, 14). 

" Green Majors said that he chose the same as 
Mrs. Lamkin ; Matthew Singleton selected the same 
as Mr. Jeffries; Landon Rains the same as Mr. 
Kemper. 

" Mrs. McCutchen sat on the right of Mr. Majors, 
and as she quoted, 'It is finished,' Luke 19 : 30, he 
turned, and placing his hand upon her shoulder, 
said, ' My friend, you have come very near my 
choice. To me there is nothing so comforting to 
poor, dying, sin-condemned mortals, who have toil- 
ed, and struggled, and prayed, and then have such 
dim hopes of eternal life, as the Saviour's words to 
the thief on the cross : ' To-day shalt thou be with 
me in paradise ' (Luke 23 : 43). 

" We left the table, and an hour afterward the 
company dispersed, true enough, never to look upon 



THE KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 233 

each other's faces this side of eternity. Only about 
six weeks elapsed before Miss Gertrude Bliss went 
to her rest and reward; and in October of the same 
year Landon Rains died, far away from his home. 
As far as I know, the remaining persons of that 
company are living, except the honored host ; but we 
have never looked upon the guest again, whose 
words of instruction and wisdom made that dinner 
party an occasion of rare interest, and to be remem- 
bered as long as our days shall last upon the 
earth." 

The hero of this incident belonged to the freight- 
ing firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell, which did 
such an immense business across the plains before 
the Pacific Railroad was built. Another interesting 
fact, illustrating his sterling Christian character, we 
have learned. He would never permit his teams to 
be driven on Sunday. It was sacredly observed, by 
man and beast, as a day of rest. As a consequence, 
his train would be passed, while resting on Sunday, 
by those who thought that they could not aiford to 
lie by for a whole day, even if it was the Sabbath. So 
it would be during the first half of the trip. On the 
last half it would be reversed. While he still refused 
to travel on Sunday, his train would almost daily 
overtake those who had hurried on, giving them- 
selves and animals no rest. Often they would be 
broken down, and he would help them ; and in every 
case his train would reach the end of the journey in 
better condition and in shorter time than those who 
had started with him and had regularly violated the 
Lord's Day. " If thou turn away thy foot from the 
sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; 



234 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, 
honorable ; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine 
own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speak- 
ing thine own words : then shalt thou delight thyself 
in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the 
high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heri- 
tage of Jacob thy father ; for the mouth of the Lord 
hath spoken it " (Isa. 58 : 13, 14). 

James Gibson, Hugh Elliott, and T. A. Johnston 
were graduated this year, forming the first regular 
graduating class of the school. 

There were thirty-six pupils during the year 1869- 
70, thirty-five the next year, and thirty in 1871-72. 

In the year 1872 the most ornamental portion of 
the building, as it is now, was put up. It is the main 
building in front, as seen in the cut of the premises. 
It cost several thousand dollars, and added materially 
not only to the beauty but also to the comfort and 
capacity of the house. 

In the year 1872-73 Mr. T. A. Johnston became 
identified with the school as the junior principal. 
There were enrolled forty-one pupils. 

Miss Georgia Bliss closed her connection with the 
school in 1873. Miss Maria McCutchen. succeeded 
her, and taught four years. Miss McCutchen was 
trained for her work by Mr. Kemper. She entered 
into his plans and appropriated his ideas with intelli- 
gent zeal. Since 1877 she has been the principal of 
a school, first at Brownsville, and more recently at 
Higginsville. At both places she has proven herself 
an efficient educator. 

During the session of 1873-74 there were forty-two 
enrollments. During this term William M. Hoge 



^ 5 

^- c 

"^ r 

^ 2 

I' 2 




THE KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 235 

and George W. Johnston entered. They were su- 
perior students, completed the course with honor, 
and were graduated from the State University in 
1880. They at once returned to the school as assist- 
ants of Mr. Kemper, and are now the assistant 
principals of Mr. T. A. Johnston. 

Since the beginning of the year 1871-72 day scholars 
have been excluded, and it has been strictly a family 
school. That this is the plan for securing the best re- 
sults is, in our judgment, true. It is, of course, practi- 
cally impossible to adopt such a plan for the educa- 
tion of the masses. It must necessarily be expensive, 
but for those who can afford it, it is worth all that it 
costs. Day and boarding pupils together are incon- 
gruous elements intimately associated. Regulations 
which are appropriate to the one class are not adapt- 
ed to the other. That the true work of education 
may be successfully accomplished and safely guaran- 
teed, the family school system, rigidly excluding all 
who are not under the domestic regulations, is not 
only expedient, but we may say indispensable. After 
the additions made to the buildings in 1872 there was 
room to accommodate about fifty pupils. This is 
enough for one family and one supervision, and 
furnishes a pleasant society in itself. 

In the year 1874-75 the name Kemper Family 
School was resumed and fifty-eight pupils were 
entered, sixty-two in 1875-76, and forty-seven in 
1876-77. 

As this was the last change made in designating 
the school, we will here present in one view the 
several names which it has borne : Boonville 
Boarding School, June, 1844, to November, 1845 ; 



236 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Boonville Male Collegiate Institute, 1845-54 ; the 
Kemper Family School, 1854-56 ; Westminster Col- 
lege, 1856-61 ; Kemper and Taylor's Institute^ 1861- 
65; Kemper's Family School, 1865-74; the Kemper 
Family School, 1874 — . 

Mr. E. L. Yager was another excellent student. 
He acted as tutor from the fall of 1878 to the summer 
of 1880, and then went to Princeton College, New 
Jersey, to complete his studies there. W. M. Hoge, 
G. W. Johnston, and W. E. Scobey w^ere tutors dur- 
ing this term, as they were the previous year. 

In 1877-78 there were fifty-three entries, and W. M. 
Hoge and George W. Johnston were tutors. 

1878-79 enrolled forty-five pupils. This year Miss 
Mary Jasper Bocock, a niece of Mr. Kemper, entered 
the school as teacher of French, German, Latin, and 
piano music. She has proved herself worthy of her 
lineage on both her father's and mother's side. 
Mr., now the Rev. Joseph H. Gauss was a tutor this 
year and the next. He is said by Mrs. Bocock to 
have been one of Mr. Kemper's pupils, who seemed 
fully to appreciate him. Mr. E. L. Yager also was a 
tutor this year. 

Fifty-six pupils entered in 1879-80. Messrs. Gauss 
and Yager were tutors this year. 

The thirty-seventh annual session of the school be- 
gan Thursday, September 9, 1880, and closed June 15, 
1 881. During its continuance sixty-two were en- 
rolled in the various classes. Mr. T. A. Johnston was 
the junior principal, Mrs. S. H. Kem.per and Miss 
M. J. Bocock, and Messrs. W. M. Hoge and George 
W. Johnston were the teachers. Willis Henry Bo- 
cock and Miss Grace Kemper (the oldest living 



THE KEMPER FAMILY SCHOOL. 237 

child of Mr. Kemper, and of whom he said that she 
was everything he desired her to be) were graduated 
in the classical course, John Joseph Campbell in the 
Latin course, and Albert Beauregard Fink and 
Samuel Murrell Sevier in the commercial course. 
The pupils represented nineteen counties of Missouri ; 
the States of Kansas, Virginia, Illinois, Texas, Indi- 
ana and Colorado; the Territories of New Mexico 
and Indian ; and Venezuela in South America. This 
was the last year of Mr. Kemper's connection with 
the school, as his death occurred before its close. 

The session was successfully continued and com- 
pleted after Mr. Kemper's death, and the school 
opened in September, 1881, as usual. Mr. T. A. 
Johnston is now the principal ; W. M. Hoge, and G. 
W. Johnston are the assistant teachers. The year 
1881-82 was one of the most prosperous in the history 
of the school. The attendance, the health, the studi- 
ousness, the morale^ have all been excellent; and 
every one of us fellow-pupils may rejoice that our 
beloved master laid the foundations deep and strong, 
and that the blessing of the Father above rests upon 
this school, which has won its way to public favor 
by discarding all trickery, and offering to its patrons 
the solid advantages of a genuine education. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE REUNION. 

" Oh, these are the words that eternally utter 

The spell that is seldom cast o'er us in vain ; 
With the wings and the wand of a fairy they flutter. 

And draw a charmed circle about us again. 
We return to the spot where our infancy gamboled ; 

We linger once more in the haunts of our youth ; 
We retread where young passion first stealthily rambled, 

And whispers are heard full of nature and truth." 

On the 3rd day of June, 1844, Mr. Kemper first 
opened the school in Boonville, with an attendance 
of five pupils, four of whom he had brought with 
him. On the 3d day of June, 1874, he was still in 
Boonville, and at the head of the school which he 
had founded thirty years before. Almost from the 
first he had as many pupils as he desired. Indeed, 
during much of the time he had felt compelled to 
admit more than he wished to have. He had en- 
rolled at Boonville and at Westminster College over 
two thousand names, embracing probably twelve 
hundred different pupils. Counting the years spent 
in teaching before he came to Boonville, he had 
served his self-allotted apprenticeship of twenty-five 
years, and could claim to have been a master-work- 
man for a half-score of years more. 

It was thought by his pupils and friends that this 



THE REUNION, 239 

was a suitable time to do honor to the successful 
veteran of the school-room. It was determined that 
it should be done by a rally of his pupils in a re- 
union at Boonville. It was a noble thought, because 
it was a genuine expression of respectful and en- 
thusiastic gratitude to a man who had won it by 
faithful, intelligent, and successful service to more 
than a thousand of his fellow- men. These bene- 
ficiaries of his skill were scattered far and wide. 
Lawson was in London, representing the interest of 
his bank in that metropolis of the world. Taylor 
was in San Francisco, having followed the sun to 
his golden setting on the Pacific. Others were 
almost as far remote in the south or toward the 
north. They were not only in all climates and lati- 
tudes and countries, but they were engaged in all 
kinds of pursuits. They were farmers with hard 
hands, but soft and generous hearts. They were 
physicians, ministering, like angels of mercy, to the 
suffering. They were merchants, whose stores, like 
a museum, contained the fabrics and products of 
almost every clime. They were lawyers, pleading 
for the vindication of the right and the punishment 
of the wrong. They were ministers, ambassadors 
of grace to their guilty fellow-men. They were 
teachers, like the master himself, striving to make 
men of the minds committed to their trust. All 
these, a full regiment of soldiers on the battle-field 
of life, heard the bugle rally that called them to the 
quarters of their beloved chief. 

They came from the plough and the workshop, 
from the counting-room and the sick-chamber, from 
the sanctum and the forum, from the pulpit and the 



240 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

school-room. The thought and feeling of each heart 
found expression in these words : 

" I find a pious gratitude disperse 

Within my soul ; and every thought of him 
Engenders a warm sigh within me, which, 
Like curls of holy incense, overtake 
Each other in my bosom, and enlarge 
With their embrace his sweet remembrance." 

The 23d and 24th of June were fixed upon as the 
time, and they dawned and departed as propitiously 
as heart could wish— model days of balmy summer 
softness. 

We are happy in being able to lay before the 
reader a contemporary account, which appeared in 
the columns of the Boonville Advertiser. It was 
manifestly prepared by one in hearty sympathy with 
the occasion : 

"The students of Kemper's Family School have 
long contemplated a grand reunion, when all could 
once again meet in friendly commune, recall the 
past, fraught with long and varied experiences, and 
talk of the present, where all again would meet 
their venerable preceptor. The culmination of their 
intentions, after preliminary workings, took place 
on the 23d and 24th, and the arrivals on last Satur- 
day and Monday were many. 

" The reunion commenced on Tuesday evening 
with a grand reception given by Professor Kemper 
at his residence, and it was indeed a most enjoyable 
and enjoyed affair. The attendance was large, there 
being between three and four hundred present ; some 
who had not met their time-honored professor for 



THE REUNION. 241 

many long and weary years, bearing the impress of 
trouble and age, were rendered happy and spiritual- 
ly youthful by once more meeting their old friend 
and teacher, their old schoolmates ; noting the many 
changes, and recalling old and happy associations. 

" Prof. Kemper was surprised and pleased, in the 
course of the evening, by the presentation of a mag- 
nificent and valuable gold watch and chain, as a 
token of respect and love from his old students. It 
bore the inscription : ' Presented by Students of 
Thirty Years.' Mr. Gallagher, of Illinois, with a few 
significant remarks, made the presentation. Mr. 
Kemper in heartfelt terms responded. It was not 
the intrinsic value of the memorial, but that extrinsic 
value made by association and circumstances, which 
would render it of inestimable worth to himself. It 
was a touching scene, easy to imagine but hard to 
express : to see crowded around the venerable pro- 
fessor the old and young, whose foundation of the 
great edifice of education he had firmly laid, made 
happy by the pleasure which beamed from his coun- 
tenance on the reception of this token of their love. 

"Many ladies, fair and beautiful, enhanced the 
pleasure of the evening with their sweet smiles, 
sparkling wit and humor. The supper was unsur- 
passable, the tables being laden with substantials of 
every kind and luxuries of every variety. Indeed, 
when Mr. Kemper and his fair lady undertake any- 
thing it is invariably a success. The festivities were, 
to the pleasure of all, protracted far into the night. 

"The next on the programme was a public m.eet- 
ing at the Thespian Hall, on Wednesday morning, 
when several very fine orations by men of talent and 



242 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

eminence — former students — were made, and a poem 
was read. Below we give ttie order of exercises : 

" President, Hon. J. B. Harris, of Callaway. 
I. Address of Welcome, Professor Kemper ; 2. Ora- 
tion, the Rev. J. A. Qiiarles, of St. Louis; 3. Poem, 
G. W, Ferrel, of Boonville; 4. Speech, Prof. C. C. 
Hersman, of Callaway; 5. Speech, James Gibson, of 
Kansas City. 

" Hon. J. B. Harris opened the meeting with a few 
appropriate remarks. He was followed by the ad- 
dress of welcome, by Mr. Kemper. He spoke in 
that characteristically strong and precise style, so 
well remembered by the many students present, bid- 
ding all a hearty welcome in his natural and kind 
way, and thanking them for the interest and kind- 
ness manifest in the very inception of this reunion. 

'^ The able oration by the Rev. J. A. Quarles, of St. 
Louis, made a deep impression on his attentive audi- 
ence. He reviewed the field of the educator, showing 
that his vocation is the most honorable and important 
one that man can pursue, developing the youthful 
mind into the strong and vigorous character of man- 
hood, laying the foundation upon which to build the 
great temple of life. He recalled many features of 
interest from the bygone past, reminiscences of his 
school-boy days, under the tutorship of Professor 
Kemper, to whom many tributes were paid, and 
kindly and pathetically remembered his many school- 
mates who have passed away. 

" Mr. G. W. Ferrel then read the following very 
fine original poem, possessing the great qualification 
of more sense than rhyme : 



THE REUNION. 243 

"A POEM OF WELCOME. 



" O would that the dead, sweet-spirited Sappho 

Might rise from the sea-waves of crystal ^gean, 

And strike the Greek harp with tremulous finger, 

Where beautiful fancies evermore linger, 
But long to leap out in a glorious pean ! 

' O would that to us the winds of the centuries, 
Fleeted forever and faded in hea\^en, 
Might bear the sweet Lesbian's song v/ith the murmur 
And beautiful grace of the long Grecian summer, 
As though by the breath of the seraphim given ! 

' O would that each heart on this morning of welcome, 
Might tremble with music's melodious measure, 
And catch the soft lip of the fountain immortal 
That gleams through the archway of heaven's wide portal, 
A beauty forever, and forever a treasure, 

" For blest is the morn 
With the perfect and holy, 
Sereneness of God resting sacredly, lowly, 
In hearts through whose veins 
Ru[i the currents of love, 
All bright with the tide 
Of that brotherly pride. 
Binding heart unto heart 
And our heaven above ! 



Thrice welcome, O friends from the South and the North, 
From the East and the West, who send their sons forth ! 
Thrice welcome, O bosoms, so brave with the steel 
And the armor of manhood, all ready to reel 
Into ranks, into armies, and rush to the fray, 
With the lances of Right, when the Wrong's in the way ! 
Thrice welcome ! We meet as we never have met 
In the days that are many and younger, but yet 



244 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

There's a sympathy sweet in our bosoms that beat 
With a stroke that is strong, as each other we greet. 

III. 

" We gather together from near and from far, 

With the glory of friendship abeam in each breast, 
And as bright as the light of some radiant star 

That burns down the beautiful slope of the West ! 
We clasp the dear hand and we wreathe the bright smile, 
We pluck the sweet blossoms of love, and beguile 
These moments of bliss that we love still the more, 
While we hope in the future and dream of the Yore ! 

IV. 

" O the Past, O the Past ! 
Let us wander awhile 
In the sweetness of memory 
Down the green aisle, 
Where the air of the evermore mystical time 
Breathes into the heart from a heavenly clime. 
The friend with the silver 

Of age in his hair 
Goes backward, far backward, 

And sits him down there, 
Till the ghost of his boyhood 
Steals downward and lingers 
Beside the old man, and it touches his brow 
With pressure the fondest from mystical fingers. 
That touch is both mystical, magical, all, 
And the shadows roll back like a funeral pall, 
As a glimpse of the better day flashes afar 
On the eye of the fancy, methinks, like a star. 

V. 

" Oh, we love to go back, and we love to search out 
The faintest of footprints that even yet stand 
In the path of the years, where we wandered through tears, 
And the sunnier journeys of boyhood's bright land ! 



THE REUNION. 245 

Oh, we long to go back, and we long to live o'er 
Our school days afar in years of the yore ; 
When the glories of youth and the youngest of loves 
Beat in at the heart like the coming of doves ! 

' We love to retrace what the suns had to sever — 

Ail the old lessons and all the old faces ; 

All of the beautiful, old-time graces. 
Wove with a weft of the winsome forever. 

' But the years have gone by, and the fairies have shifted 

The green of the grass and the red of the roses, 
Full many a time, and the summer tide 

Anew on the hills where the sunshine reposes, 

' Dear hearts have ceased beating, dear hands have been folded ; 

Dear faces have faded away 'mid the beautiful 
Flight of the angels, and in the grand temple 

Have seen the reward of the sweet and the dutiful. 

' Hearts that to-day we would love to link fondly 

To lives that live only in memory's keeping, 
Lie under the sod 'neath the face of the violet, 
Wet with the tears of its own tender weeping. 

And distance has parted us — distance which darkens 
The flight of the years that sweep onward forever, 

And leave but a token of love to remind us 
How widely we part, and how often we sever ! 

By the murmurous sea, on the slope of the golden 
And beautiful country that runs to the West, 

Are the homes of companions that conned the old lessons 
Together with us in the years we loved best. 

By the mighty Atlantic and the lakes of blue water. 

By the seas of the South where the summer-tides shine. 

Still lie the dear homes of the friends whom we welcome 
To-day with a welcome complete and divine. 



246 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 



" Ye come, O friends, from the fields of the husbandman, 
Lying in beauty and waving with gold ! 
Ye come with the step of the merchant and tradesman, 
As happy, as generous, ay, and as bold ! 

" Ye come from the desk of the student who labors 
From the flush of the morning far into the night ! 
Ye come with the pen of the journalist, happy 
In battling the wrong and upholding the right ! 

" Ye come, O friends, from the courts of the lawyer^ 
All covered with honor for deeds that are great ! 
Ye come from the place where the people have sent you, 
To stand like heroes at the helm of the state ! 

" Ye come from the pulpit, with heaven's own beauty 
Abeam in the face and aglow in the heart ! 
Ye come from the ranks of the mighty physicians, 
Ye come from the people — of heaven a part ! 

VII. 

" Thus do we welcome you, thus do we gather 
Again to remember the blessed Old Times, 
And the tenderer loves that leap through the bosom 
And beat with the tinkle of wonderful chimes ! 

" Down the green byways of holy affection, 
Down the deep vistas of sweet recollection,' 
Into a land like an amethyst, 
Together we'll wander again, and we'll list . 
To the lute of the angel of memory there, 
As sweet as a song, and as hallowed as prayer ! 

" The years may glide by like the brooks through the lea, 
Like the currents of rivers that run to the sea. 
And carry the shadow, and carry the sun. 
From morning till eve on their course as they run ; 
But sun, nor shadow, nor current shall take 
From memory's tablet, for memory's sake. 



THE REUNION. 247 

A single beauty, or grace, or love, 

That may have fallen from heaven above 

With a newer life and a stronger sway 

Into the bosom this beautiful day. 

It may be that we nevermore 

Shall fneet each other on time's dark shore, 

Banded together and bound by ties 

That link us to the eternal skies. 

It must be for some hearts to cease 

Beating in sorrow to beat in peace 

Beyond the wave and the turbulent tide, 

Over upon the other side 

Of Jordan, where there yet shall be 

Reunion in Eternity." 

We arrest the reading of the report of the re- 
union here for a moment, to give our candid judg- 
ment, that the commendations above given to the 
oration and poem were colored by the enthusiasm of 
the occasion. We do not think that either of them 
met the demands of the day. So far as the oration 
is concerned, we were at the time painfully conscious 
that this was true. The poem is here to speak for 
itself. We do not propose to criticise it. This 
would not be proper, and we should not have felt it 
our duty to say anything about it, except for one 
very glaring defect it has. There is in it, from 
beginning to end, no mention of Mr. Kemper, nor 
the most distant allusion to him. This is certainly 
the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out. We now 
resume the report : 

" Professor C. C. Hersman, of Westminster Col- 
lege, Fulton, delivered a very profound speech, 
laying great stress on the fact that the acquisition of 
truth is the foundation of education, the fountain- 
head of knowledge. 



248 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

'■' Mr. James Gibson, of Kansas City, closed the ex- 
ercises witli a short but expressive speech, receiv- 
ing the repeated applause of the audience ; express- 
ing the sentiments, when referring to Kemper's 
Family School, of every old student present." 

We heartily concur with these commendations, for 
they were pre-eminently deserved. We never heard 
a more excellent fifteen-minute speech than that 
made by Professor Hersman on this occasion. It was 
excellent in thought, excellent in expression, and 
excellent in delivery. Mr. Gibson was quite brief, 
but his words were golden. Every heart was thrilled 
as he repeated these familiar lines, and applied them 
to Mr. Kemper: — 

" Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase !) 
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace. 
And saw, within the moonlight in his room, . 
Making it rich and like a lily in bloom, 
An angel writing in a book of gold. 
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, 
And to the presence in his room he said, 
' What writest thou ? ' The vision raised its head. 
And, with a look made of all sweet accord, 
Answered, ' The names of those who love the Lord.' 
' And is mine one ? ' said Abou. 'Nay, not so,' 
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, 
But cheerly still, and said, ' I pray thee, then, 
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men ! 
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night 
It came again, with a great wakening light. 
And showed the names of those whom love of God had blest, 
And lo, Ben Adhem's name led all the rest !" 

We resume the Advertise)^' s report : 

" Banquet. — The grand finale of the reunion exer- 



THE REUNION. 249 

cises took place on Wednesday evening", 24th inst., at 
the Thespian Hall. Many happy faces assembled to 
participate in the enjoyment of the occasion where 
happiness reigned supreme. It was a golden summer 
evening, a refreshing shower having settled the dust, 
making the atmosphere cool and bracing. All vied in 
rendering the occasion one long to be remembered. 

" Grand preparations had been made. It was a 
feast for both body and mind. A sumptuous repast 
was spread, pampering the appetite of the most con- 
firmed and fastidious epicure. Six toasts (non-Bac- 
chanalian) were responded to in most earnest and 
eloquent terms. The old students of thirty years for 
tlie last time mingled in happy intercourse ; for the, 
last time, perhaps, on like occasion, paid tribute to 
their alma mater^ and bade a long and regretful fare- 
well to their youthful associations ; for the last time 
talked over and again enjoyed the school-day prank. 
Men of eminence, grown gray in successfully fight- 
ing the great battle of life ; alumni of Kemper's 
Family School, having thrown into activity those 
principles of truth inculcated by their honored in- 
structor; in fact, men from every walk in life mingled 
with the happy throng, and partook of the festivities 
of the banquet. 

*' Immediately after the supper the chairman, J. W. 
Draffen, Esq., of Boonville, commanded order, and 
consecutively called each toast, as follows : 

" First Toast : Our Honored Teacher. Response 
by M. M. Singleton, of Boonville. 

" Second Toast : Education, the safeguard of the 
country in the past, and its hope in the future. Re- 
sponse by Professor F, T. Kemper. 



250 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" Third Toast : The School, and Class of '74. Re- 
sponse by W. A. Jacobs, of Greenfield. 

" Fourth Toast : Our School Days. Response by 
Judge W. H. H. Hill, of Sedalia. [Judge Hill was 
unavoidably absent.] 

" Fifth Toast : The Ladies. 

"O woman, lovely woman ! Nature made thee 
To temper man. We had been brutes without you.' 

Response by Hon. J. B. Harris, of Callaway. 

" Sixth Toast : To the Dead of our School. 

"The first toast, by Mr. Singleton, paying a high 
tribute of love and respect to * Our honored teacher,' 
was appropriate and brief. It received twofold value 
by being delivered in that earnest and natural style 
(the gift of the orator) that carries conviction and 
commands the attention of the audience. ' Those are 
my sentiments,' were the whispered accents of many 
of his auditors. 

" Mr. William H. Allison, in the most choice and 
forcible language, made tribute to 'Our honored 
teacher.' In a review of his history, he followed 
him through the trials and tribulations of his colle- 
giate course — the honest and industrious student, a 
member of the faculty of the Westminster College — 
down to the permanent establishment of the great 
institution, known throughout the length and breadth 
of the land as Kemper's Family School. It was a 
masterly effort, and many and long were the plaudits. 
Grand and elevated ideas, evoked by the magic of 
friendship and that love of the pupil for the teacher 
to whom he owes so much, were clothed in language 
which the gifted alone can command. 



THE REUNION. 251 

'' ' Education, the safeguard of the country in the 
past, and its hope for the future,' was responded to by 
Mr. Kemper in that unassuming and natural style, 
that exhaustive yet brief manner, in which Mr. 
Kemper treats all educational questions. No edu- 
cator in the West is more thoroughly versed, more 
deeply founded in the profession than Mr. Kemper ; 
and he talks to instruct and amuse, when the occa- 
sion admits, as it did on that evening. The vocation 
of the teacher is not merely to impart a little knowl- 
edge, to instruct the youth in a few of the learned 
sciences, but to mould the character, to develop true 
and noble manhood ; and this kind of education alone 
can prove 'the safeguard of the country.' 

"The third toast, 'The school, and class of '74,' by 
W. A. Jacobs, was enjoyed by all, and especially by 
his schoolmates. Mr. Jacobs is a most estimable 
young man, and in graceful terms toasted the class 
of '74. The audience was highly entertained by his 
school- day reminiscences. 

^' ' The Ladies' were toasted by the Hon. J. B. 
Harris, Senator from Callaway. This is a toast that 
always proves of interest, especially when responded 
to in the happy strain and natural style of Mr. 
Harris, 

" During the interval between each toast, sweet 
music was dispensed by the Home Orcliestra. 

" In conclusion, we extend a friendly adieu to the 
reunionists, and sincerely hope that they may long 
live to honor their alma mater. " 

There are but few men in the Valley of the Missis- 
sippi ; indeed few in this broad land of ours, there is 
not another in the imperial State of Missouri, who 



252 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

could properly be the recipient of such an honor as 
was this reunion of pupils of thirty years. In the 
length of time that he taught ; in the number of 
pupils who came under his influence ; in the extent 
of country from which they came ; in the universal 
and enthusiastic gratitude which they feel for him ; 
and, above all, in the character of the work as shown 
by its practical results, Mr. Kemper stands almost 
without a parallel among the teachers of our land. 
The reunion revealed this fact with conspicuous 
demonstration. 

In this connection we call attention to the fact of 
the indorsement of Mr. Kemper as an educator by 
the most prominent and practical men in Missouri. 
As illustrations of this truth, we shall refer only to 
two. Col. Joseph L. Stephens, of Boonville, was 
undoubtedly one of the remarkable men of Missouri. 
Though not, perhaps, what might be called a brilliant 
man or a child of genius, he was what is far better 
and higher, a man of massive mind and comprehen- 
sive intellect. Reared on a farm, he commenced 
life for himself in Boonville as a lawyer, over- 
shadowed by the commanding talent of the bar of 
Central Missouri. It was not long, however, before 
he was, though still young, one of its most successful 
and trusted practitioners. We remember well, thirty 
years ago, when he and Senator Vest (the most 
gifted man in the State, then partners) were retained 
upon one or the other side of every important case 
in the Cooper Circuit Court. Turning from the law 
to finance, he was equally successful, amassing a 
fortune and being recognized, at his death, as one of 
the leading financiers of the interior. Colonel 



THE REUNION. 253 

Stephens put all of his sons under the care of Mr. 
Kemper, boarding them with him, though his own 
family residence was only two squares away. Though 
possessed of wealth which would have allowed him 
to send them to Rugby or Eton, he preferred his old 
neighbor, whom he knew to be a " maker of men." 

The other case is that of the Hon. James S. Rol- 
lins, of Columbia. For forty years Major Rollins 
has been one of our leading men. Though gifted as 
an orator and prominent in the political history of 
our commonwealth, his great distinction is in con- 
nection with education. Among all our public 
men, there is no one with such a record as his, in 
the interests of our public schools. Our State Uni- 
versity is his special pet and pride, to which he has 
given the best labors of the best years of his life. 
Indeed he may justly be called the father of the 
University of Missouri. Major Rollins has intrusted 
the education of his younger sons to Mr. Kemper. 

We have a couple of letters written by him to Mr. 
Kemper, while one of his sons was a student in the 
Family School. We shall extract largely from them, 
not only on account of the distinguished reputation 
of the writer, but also because of their intrinsic ex- 
cellence. 

"Columbia, Oct. 20, 1873. 

" Professor F. T. Kemper — Dear Sir: I have the pleasure 
to acknowledge the reception of your favor of the 15th inst. I 
approve all the suggestions which you make in regard to my 
son. . . . 

" I am gratified that he is interested in laying his foundation 
well. As a general rule, so far as my observation extends, our 
graduates can neither read, write, nor spell. It is seldom in my 
life that I have met with a good reader^ even among educated 



2 54 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

men. I regard this as one of the highest accomplishments of a 
scholar and gentleman. I had almost said that a man could be 
neither without possessing it. 

" At his age, I desire, above all things, that he should be ac- 
curate in whatever he attempts to learn or read. I lay as much 
and more stress upon accuracy in scholarship than Demosthenes 
did upon ' action ' in oratory. The great fault with men is, that 
they know nothing. With rare exceptions, all their information 
is confused, loose, slip-shod. This is true both in regard to facts 
and principles ; and all resulting from inaccurate and imperfect 
training of the mind when young and pliable. Our whole system 
of education is wrong in this, that our ablest and best/(3?V teachers 
ought to have charge of the mind of the country in its early dawn. 
' Just as the twig is bent, the tree is inclined.' The apprentice 
needs no longer his master, when he can handle well the tools 
himself. But to learn this art, his master should be perfect, not a 
botch ! 

"John Randolph, in his first trip across the ocean, asked the 
captain of the vessel, who was an educated Irishman, why it was 
that in all the atlases a certain town in Ireland was always placed 
on the wrong side of the river. The captain had never discov- 
ered it ! Meeting with John Quincy Adams when I was a very 
young man from Missouri, he asked me the population of St. 
Louis. I gave it to him, when he contradicted me, and stated it to 
me accicrately. He knew what it was ; I did not. This incident 
made a deep impression upon me, but I have not profited by it ; I 
am still a know-nothing ; but I would have it different with my son. 

" Senator Benton once said to me, in his graphic style, ' Sir, if 
I had not been Senator Benton, I would have been a Quintilian. 
I missed my profession, sir ; I ought to have been a schoolmaster. 
The boys would have -understood v^\i&\. I attempted to teach them.' 
What a grand schoolmaster the illustrious Senator would have 
been ! 

" I know that all this depends greatly upon the memory. But 
how best shall this important faculty of the mmd be fortified, 
strengthened, improved, in order that it may retain what it 
gathers ? 

" I have received several letters from my son. He expresses 
himself well pleased with the school, and also that he^ has a 



THE REUNION. 255 

determination to excel. . . . For boys of his age, he thinks the 
school a decided improvement upon the University. He seems to 
be forming very decided opinions for himself. An occasional 
virord from you will have great weight with him. . . . He has 
requested me to send him a dictionary and a few good books to read. 
I will do this from time to time, but with the distinct injunction 
that his outside reading is not in any way to interfere with his 
regular lessons. 1 impress upon him never to miss a recitation, and 
alvvays to know his lesson well. 

" I prefer that he should read but one book until it is completed, 
and then take up another. For this desultory and irregular read- 
ing, on the part of boys or men, I regard as the very bane of all 
solid improvement. 

" I have sent to him ' Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his Son,' and 
requested him to read them carefully, with his English and Clas- 
sical Dictionary near by, so as to make himself familiar with any 
quotation or classical and historical reference. While there 
are many things in Chesterfield which I do not approve, he is 
nevertheless an easy and graceful writer, and his ' Letters ' abound 
with profitable instruction for observant and smart boys. To 
correct any mischievous tendencies which he may meet with in 
Chesterfield, I will send him after a while Banyan's ' Pilgrim's 
Progress,' Plutarch's 'Lives,' Goldsmith, 'Chambers's Mis- 
cellany,' etc. . . . 

" In my correspondence with him, I shall give him every en- 
couragement, awaken in him as far as I can a thirst for knowl- 
edge, and impress upon him always implicit obedience to your 
orders and rules of government, and to which I trust you will 
hold him with a steady and firm hand. 

" Commending him to the friendly care of yourself and Mr. 
Johnston, to whom I ask to be kindly remembered, I am, most 
truly and respectfully, 

* ' Your obedient servant, 

"James S. Rollins." 

There are sentences in this letter which ought to 
be put on Major Rollins's monument, especially his 
reference to primary education and to accuracy of 
scholarship. 



256 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

The second letter was written on the occasion of 
the reunion, and is as follows: — 

Columbia, June 5, 1874. 

" Mr. F. T. Kemper — My dear Sir : On account of the con- 
tinued delicacy of my health, and the literary exercises to occur 
here, in the University, and at the very time of the close 
of your own school, it will be out of my power to be with you 
on the occasion of the reunion of your old pupils of thirty 
years past and gone. Nothing would have given more pleasure ; 
and it was my purpose to induce my friend, the Hon. Daniel 
W. Voorhees, of Indiana, who will address the two literary 
societies here on the evening of the 22nd inst., to go with me. 
I know he would have enjoyed the visit, and you and Mrs. 
Kemper would have been charmed with him. He is a su- 
perb man, and a most brilliant and accomplished orator. 

" But the Board of Curators meet just at that time. I am the 
President of the Board. A large crowd of strangers will be 
present, and I have on such occasions to make myself as useful as 
I can. My absence would not look well, indeed it would be inex- 
cusable. These facts will contain my excuse for not accepting 
your kind invitation to be present at the reunion of your old 
pupils ; than which, I repeat, nothing would have given me greater 
delight. 

" I am satisfied that my son has done well since he has been 
with you. I think he has turned a new leaf entirely. His ambi- 
tion has been awakened, and he has now a high purpose to ac- 
complish in life. He has learned how to control and direct his 
faculties, and understands the art of studying to advantage. 
These I regard as nearly half the victory, where a youth has 
good native endowments. . . , 

" I would prefer to make of him a lawyer, provided he has a 
tough physical constitution, a sound legal mind, capable of com- 
prehending great principles, discussing subjects logically and 
metaphysically and with strong common sense ! I know this pro- 
fession is crowded. There is a long line of sympathetic mourn- 
ers, who are grieving for their want of success, and mainly be- 
cause they are unadapted to the profession ! They might have 
made good shoemakers, good carpenters, good farmers, good 



THE REUNION. 257 

barbers, or bootblacks : and I would prefer to see my son excelling 
in any of these, if he has not the ability to reach the upper story 
in the legal profession, where, Mr. Webster says, there is ' always 
an abundance of room.' ... 

" I may drop you another line before the close of the session. 
In the mean time present my kind regards to Mrs. Kemper and 
Mr. Johnston, and believe me most truly, 

" Your friend, 

"James S. Rollins." 

Other distinguished men, such as Hon. John G. 
Miller, Richard Gentry, Hon. William B. Napton, 
Hon. George G. Vest, and Revs. R. P. Farris, D.D., 
and B. T. Lacy, D.D., gave their sons to him, and 
were his ardent admirers and enthusiastic sup- 
porters. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

WELL DONE ! 



" Then fell upon the house a sudden gloom, 
A shadow on those features pale and thin ; 
And softly, from that hushed and darkened room, 

Txvo angels issued, where but one went in." 

Longfellow. 

Mr. Kemper entered upon the labors of the school,, 
in the fall of 1880, with a lighter heart than usual. 
The general plan of the institution had been perfect- 
ed. It was a private school, free from the control of 
sect or trustee. He was the owner of the property, 
and he had superintended the erection of every 
building. It was as he wanted it, with school-rooms 
and bedrooms for the family, teachers, and fifty 
boys. There were ample grounds for exercise, for 
garden, and for pasture. Moreover, he had a farm a 
few miles away, which not only furnished him most 
pleasant diversion, but also contributed to the com- 
fort of the family school. The school was exclusively 
for boarders — not a day scholar was admitted — and he 
had secured the requisite number to fill the rooms, 
without any drumming, or personal solicitation, or 
any of the ordinary means by which teachers worry 
themselves, provoke their rival teachers, and degrade 
the profession. The school was of such established 



WELL DONE! 259 

and widespread reputation that it did not need to 
solicit pupils ; pupils eagerly sought it, and were 
willing to pay a reasonable sum to gain its ad- 
vantages. 

• The revenues of the school were large, enabling 
its proprietor to furnish the very best facilities, and 
at the same time retain a handsome income for 
himself. The same man who had taught the same 
school at the same place twenty-four years before, 
having seventy-five pupils to instruct, and dividing 
the income with two others, and all three receiving 
for their year's work but a pittance over twelve hun- 
dred dollars — he now was limiting his pupils to fifty, 
and receiving an aggregate gross return of over fifteen 
thousand dollars a year. 

He had still further and greater cause for gratifica- 
tion in the fact' that he had now surrounded himself 
with chosen pupils as teachers, to whom he could 
safely commit the details of the grand work of edu- 
cation in which he was engaged. They were men 
of choice natural endowments, whom he had taken 
in their early youth, and who, in thorough sympathy 
with his spirit, had been trained to perfect familiarity 
with his plans. He had the most complete confi- 
dence in these men. He had tested them, and found 
them faithful ; and he knew, therefore, that he could 
safely intrust the administration and its details to 
their intelligent and conscientious management. 

Still another ground he had for satisfaction of 
spirit, as he not only realized that he enjoyed the re- 
spect of all good men who knew him, but also, and 
especially, as he could see, on the farm and in the 
workshop, at the bar and on the bench, at the bedside 



26o THE LIFE OF PROF, KEMPER- 

and in the pulpit, the fruits of his work, the men 
whom he had made^ standing in the forefront of the 
fight for the right and the true. 

Though a veteran of over forty years' experience 
in the school-room, he had not yet reached his three- 
score years and ten. Though he had always been 
more or less delicate, yet he was now as hale as he 
ever had been. Under all these auspicious circum- 
stances, he withdrew himself from a personal par- 
ticipation in the discipline and instruction of the 
school far more than he had ever done. He now felt 
that he could safely and properly do so. He had 
not only earned a rest, but he saw that it was better 
for the future of the school that it should be intrust- 
ed more and more to the young men whom he had 
chosen to be his successors. Everything, therefore, 
was propitious ; and while a dolce far niente life 
would never have suited him, it was possible that 
he could make his labors less irksome, and turn them 
partially to other channels. 

Besides his wife, he had four daughters, w^hose 
society he could enjoy and whose education he could 
direct. 'He had his farm. How he loved that farm ! 
Partly, perhaps, because it reminded him of his 
youthful days. Partly because, to a philosophic 
mind, the country furnishes retirement for medita- 
tion. Partly because he loved the truthfulness and 
freedom of natural life. Partly because it was a 
change and a recreation from the heavy burdens of 
the school. 

".'Tis very sweet to look into the fair 
And open face of heaven — to breathe a prayer 
Full in the smile of the blue firmament." 



WELL DONE! 261 

Partly because it had cost him a great deal of 
money, and was his favorite place for lavishing it. 
This farm was undoubtedly Mr. Kemper's weakness. 
He enjoyed it, and every friend loves to think of the 
pure and almost boyish pleasure that it gave him. 
It was his toy. 

But, besides family and farm, he had other plans, 
with which he could pleasantly and profitably occupy 
the leisure gained from the labors of the school-room. 
He had for years cherished purposes of authorship. 
Several hints of this are found in his writings. 
In one place, for example, he indicates a design of 
preparing a work on " Biblical Orthoepy," and 
another on " Professional Teaching." In the same 
connection he speaks of editing or making a series 
of text-books. In another place he gives quite a full 
synopsis of a projected volume, which was to be a 
"School and Family Bible, with Notes." He had 
prepared material for school text-books, and for a 
manual, at least, on the art of teaching ; and his 
mind was richly freighted with treasures of knowl- 
edge and thought, ready to be expended on the other- 
subjects mentioned above. For the last three years 
of his life there is no entry to be found in his 
journal. We have, therefore, nothing in his writings 
to the effect that his main object in relieving him- 
self partially of his school cares was to give leisure 
for authorship. Yet such is our opinion. Just here 
w^e shall state a fact which will probably surprise 
many. It is that Mr. Kemper personally supervised 
the evening studies of his pupils until this session of 
1880-81. He surrendered this duty to Mr. Hoge in 
the fall of 1880, the very last year that he lived. 



262 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Where shall we find a parallel to this fidelity to the 
details and drudgery of the profession ? 

With a part of the leisure thus gained he pre- 
pared a series of short articles on IngersoUism, which 
were published in the ^oown'iWq Advertiser. We shall 
transcribe the final article, as it contains a summary 
of the whole, and was probably the last thing that he 
ever published. 

" A Synopsis of the Seven Co?iundrtims on Ingersoll. 

"i. When Ingersoll says it is the Christian sys- 
tem that men are taken to heaven for abandoning 
their families and sent to hell for cherishing them, 
does he not know that he lies ? Certainly every well- 
taught Sunday-school child, ten years old, knows 
that that is not the Christian system. 

"2. When he argues against thecorporal punish- 
ment of children, by taking, possibly, a veritable case 
of some man inhumanly beating a child, ' with 
cheeks flushed with anger and brows knit with 
wrath,' does he not commit the logical fallacy of ' a 
false universal ' ? Admitting that his instance is not 
overdrawn, does he not tell the truth as if it were un- 
true ? 

"3. What are his merits as a reformer? He ex- 
pects civilization and science to regulate mankind. 
It was shown that crime is less prevalent in Ireland 
than in Massachusetts, and that property is safer in 
Italy than in the old ' Bay State.' 

"4. Is he right in his estimate of Thomas Paine ? 
We adduced a few, out of many, witnesses to show 
that Paine died a beastly drunkard, and there is 
abundant evidence that he lived a beastly life. His 



WELL DONE! 263 

physician, the historian Lossing, Dr. Francis, Thor- 
burn, and others prove our position. Thorburn's 
testimony was never disputed during his life-time. 
Since his death the infidel journals have made a 
liar, a plagiarist, and a thief of one of the most in- 
teresting characters that have adorned the history 
of this country. When we have done with Inger- 
soU we will discuss Grant Thorburn as a matter of 
justice. 

"5. What species of the feathered tribe most 
fairly represents IngersoU, in his caricature of relig- 
ion and its ministers ? As in other articles, we raise 
a question and state some facts, leaving readers to 
make their own inferences. 

" A passage in the life of the Rev. James Gallaher, 
published in the Western Sketch Book, will illustrate 
our question. About half a century ago Mr. G., 
with other ministers, was on board a crowded steam- 
boat on the Red River. A certain passenger under- 
took, very successfully, to amuse the crowd by telling 
anecdotes at the expense of the clergy. Mr. Galla- 
her said that he was incomparably the best story- 
teller he had ever heard. Every story was better than 
the preceding one. They went up, he said, like stair- 
steps. They were every one pointed at the preachers, 
and the vast crowd were spell-bound. 

" Having exhausted his artillery, and no one being 
disposed to answer, he turned to Mr. Gallaher, and 
asked his opinion of his final joke. Mr. G. declined 
to discuss that question, saying he was too ignorant 
of the facts ; but with his melodious and powerful 
voice he called aloud to Major Jenkins, his traveling 
companion, who was some distance off. His splen- 



264 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

did physique and inimitable manner at once arrested 
the attention of the excited and expectant crowd. 

" ' Major Jenkins,' said he, 'do you remember the 
Sabbath-school address which I delivered the other 
day at Shreveport ? ' 'I do,' said the Major. Per- 
fect silence now reigning in the crowd, he resumed : 

" ' I told the children how I should like to have 
lived neighbor to the Patriarch Abraham. The spe- 
cial feature of his character on which I dwelt was 
his disposition to construe charitably the characters 
of his fellow-men. When Sodom was about to be 
destroyed, Abraham was confident there must be 
fifty good men in the place ; and if that could not 
be, there must be forty ; and so on down to ten ! ' 
Breathless attention now concentred on the speaker. 
' I told them it was evident that Abraham was not a 
man to be smelling around for dirty things ! ' Rapt 
attention, and expectation on tiptoe. ' I went on 
to illustrate from the feathered tribe. I told those 
children if, on some fine shining morning, a dove 
should fly out from its resting-place and sail over 
the waving grain-fields, bathing its wings in heaven's 
sunlight and resting in the cool shade, how peace- 
ful its heart would be; and at night, if that bird 
could talk, it would have nothing to tell about but 
what was beautiful in earth and sky ! ' Great crowd 
now well nigh entranced. ' But if a buzzard fly over 
the same grain-fields, bathe his broad black wings in 
the same sunlight, and rest at noon in the same cool 
shade, when he gets home at night he will have 
nothing to talk about but rotten 'possum or dead calf ! ' 
" At this point the crowd became uncontrollable. 
They shouted, they clapped, they stamped, they 



WELL DONE! 265 

waved their hats in admiration and delight. A 
United States military officer was so excited that 
he ran up and down the deck, shouting, * Oh, that buz- 
zard, that buzzard ! ' The scoffing story-teller got off 
at the first landing, and Mr. G. heard of him no more. 

" 6. Does the temper w^hich pervades his writings 
marli the candid inquirer after truth ? We showed 
that he puts his questions like an advocate, and not 
like a judge or a cool philosopher ; that where he de- 
manded a categorical yes or no, the true answer was 
yes and no, according to facts. 

''7. On the moral influence of Ingersollism, we 
cited the reformation of the Five Points and Water 
Street in New York by Christian effort, as opposed to 
the whole tenor of his philosophy. 

" I have been led, Mr. Editor, to present these 
vulnerable points of Ingersollism in a county paper, 
because his books are hawked about the country, on 
the railroad cars, and sent to the pupils in our 
schools, who are easily led astray because they are 
ignorant. One of our pupils, however, who was a 
well-read historian, wrote a masterly review and refu- 
tation of Ingersoll's book entitled ' The Gods and 
other Lectures.' Ingersoll's glory, like that of Celsus 
and Porphyry, and Voltaire and Paine, will fade as 
the years go by. F. T. Kemper." 

Another chief use which he desired to make of his 
partial leisure was to devote it to various works of 
kindly benefaction. He wished to visit the poor, the 
sick, the distressed. He wished to take a more active 
part in the gatherings of farmers, in the conventions 
of teachers, and in the meetings of the Church. He 



2 66 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

made preparation to address the Missouri Legisla- 
ture on the interests of education in the State. He 
attended the Synod of Missouri, which met at Fulton 
in the fall of 1880. 

We have already alluded to his strong attachment 
for his farm, and the large sums which he expended 
in improving it. He spent a great portion of his 
leisure there during the last four years of his life, 
and he had the pleasure of seeing that the fine ponds 
which he had made were of great practical service 
during the seasons of drouth. Since his death many 
of his neighbors have doubtless blessed his memory, 
as they found a bountiful supply of water on that 
farm during the protracted drouth of 1881. 

We cannot forbear giving an instance of the simple 
generosity of his nature, which sometimes led him 
to be imposed upon. Every agent for the sale of 
farming implements came to know this amiable 
weakness ; and on one occasion, while sitting, with 
one of his tutors, on the front porch of the school 
building, he looked up the street and saw a 
man approaching who was manifestly a peripatetic 
vender of pumps. Addressing his companion, Mr. 
Kemper said, " Do you see that fellow coming down 
the street? You see that he is a pump-peddler. 
Now he is coming here, I venture, to try to sell his 
pumps to me ; but I do not intend to buy — I. have been 
imposed upon too often." Sure enough, the man 
came, and Mr. Kemper at first began to bluff him, 
but before an hour passed he had bought three of 
the fellow's worthless pumps. 

The neighborhood of the farm was quite destitute 
of churches or of church-going people. He there- 



WELL DONE! 267 

fore at an early day established a Sunday-school in 
the school-house. This he kept up for twenty-five 
years, providing teachers from his pupils. It effected 
quite a reformation in the vicinity, as all the citizens, 
except the Roman Catholic element, seemed to be 
interested. For several years prior to his death he 
went regularly himself to this Sabbath-school. Mrs. 
Kemper had a juvenile class. The remainder were 
divided into classes, who recited a lesson to their 
several teachers, after which he lectured the whole 
school, explaining and illustrating the subject by 
earnest and pathetic appeals. 

Sunday was his busiest day. After teaching an 
hour before church, he attended the regular morning 
service. After dinner he rode out five miles to his 
farm school, and returned just in time for supper. 
When supper was over, he met his boys to conduct 
a reading exercise, and then went with them to the 
evening service in the church. Mrs. Kemper tried 
to persuade him that it was best to remain at home 
in the evening, after his fatiguing labors and cold 
rides. But he feared that the people might not un- 
derstand why he was absent, and thought it his duty 
to set an example of faithful attendance upon all the 
regular services. 

At the beginning of this last school session he 
said to his wife^ '^ You must try to be relieved from 
home cares, so that you can go with me to places 
where recreation or business may call me." She 
thought to herself : " The time cannot be very long 
that we shall be spared to each other. Though I am 
confident, with his vigorous constitution, that he will 
exceed his threescore years and ten, yet the time is 



268 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

short, and we must not be separated an hour longer 
than is necessary." So she accompanied him to 
several meetings for teachers in the county, to the 
State convention of teachers at Columbia, and to the 
meeting of the Synod in Fulton. They had arranged 
to spend the Christmas holidays at Kirksville, but the 
excessive cold prevented. Through all the storms 
and cold of the winter of 1 880-81 they went together 
to their little Sunday-school, five miles in the country. 
Two or three Sabbaths the snow was so deep that he 
thought none of his class could meet, and he did not 
go to the school. But he did not rest at home ; for 
he said that, as he had so few opportunities to visit 
the sick and afflicted, he must improve that time. 

There is one portion of Mr. Kemper's work, of 
interest and importance, to which we can barely al- 
lude. We i-efer to his short impromptu speeches, 
delivered in teachers' conventions, in the church, 
and especially to his boys at the dining-table. His 
table-talks are said to have been frequently quite 
interesting as well as instructive. We have unfortu- 
nately no record of them. In these improvised 
speeches, his native talent, his wealth of knowledge, 
and especially his warm, tender, pious heart showed 
themselves. During the week of prayer in January, 
1881, at one of the meetings he made some remarks 
which produced a universal and profound impression 
on the assembled congregation. He spoke as if his 
lips had been touched by a live coal from the altar of 
heaven. Many that heard him seemed to realize 
that he spoke under the promptings of the Infinite 
Spirit of Grace, and seemed to them a messenger 
from above. This was his last public talk. 



WELL DONE! 269 

As Sunday was his busiest day, he had no leisure 
until he returned from the service in the church at 
night. This he appropriated to singing his favorite 
hymns. On the last Sabbath night before he w^as 
taken sick he practised with Mrs. Kemper a hymn 
in which occurs this stanza : 

" The while my pulses faintly beat, 
My faith doth so abound, 
I feel grow firm beneath my feet 
The green immortal ground." 

And another: 

" It is not death to die, 

To leave this weary road, 
And, 'midst the brotherhood on high, 
To be at home with God." 

Two days before his sickness he read aloud to his 
wife the following poem, which he had cut from an 
old newspaper and pasted in his little pocket Testa- 
ment : 

"GUIDE US TO-DAY. 

" Guide us to-day, O loving care, 

Shielding our dangerous way. 
The white mist binds the sky o'erhead, 
The gulf beside is deep and dread. 
Our course a maze, our path a thread ; 
Guide us. Love's dearest care, 
Guide us this day. 

" Guide us to-day, sweet soul of peace, 
Making men's hearts obey. 
Our naked breasts bleed at a wound, 
Oppression bows us to the ground. 
Our hearts faint at a cruel sound ; 
Kind, calm, consoling Peace, 
Guide us this day. 



270 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" Guide us to-day, O tender Grace, 
From zenith shadows stray ; 
A sad, deep murmur haunts the sea ; 
The summer withers ; and the free, 
Fresh wind has sighs of mystery. 
Guide us, O tender Grace, 
Guide us to-day. 

" Guide us, O Love, and Peace, and Grace ! 
Guide us, divinest Light ! 
Through all our work, and care, and woe, 
Through all the dizzy joys we know, 
Through that ' dark valley ' where we go, 
Guide us, Love's dearest Light, 
To-day, to-night." 

We now record the last scenes in the words of the 
wife, who had been his loving companion and faith- 
ful friend for more than a quarter of a century : 

"Thursday Moening, March 3, 1881. 

" Mr. Kemper took charge of Mr. Hoge's classes, 
who was absent attending the wedding of Dr. McCoy 
and Miss Hettie Rush. In the midst of this extra 
work, he had, to use his own expression, the hardest 
chill he had experienced for twenty years. He came 
to the dinner-table and drank a cup of coffee, but 
excused his class from going to his room to study, 
and immediately went to bed. He asked that I 
should bring him some hot drink to take a sweat. 
But as soon as he was composed in bed, he said that, 
as he felt so coinfortable, he thotight he only needed 
rest and would take a vapor bath at bed-time. At 
nine o'clock he took his bath and slept soundly all 
night. 

"In the morning he said that he would have his 



WELL DONE! 271 

breakfast in bed, then dress, and go into the school- 
room. But he had no appetite for breakfast, and 
concluded to remain in bed all the morning. About 
ten o'clock he thought that he ought to see the doc- 
tor, who was sent for. On his arrival, he said that 
there seemed to be danger of another chill, and 
ordered hot and stimulating drinks immediately. 
After an examination, the doctor thought there was 
a threatened attack of pneumonia, which he hoped 
could be averted. In the evening, having learned 
that his little pet, Gertrude Cosgrove, was in the 
house, he sent for her to come to his room. Soon 
after Mrs. Cosgrove came in with her two boys, and 
Mrs. Johnston and Bertha made a call. These, with 
our own children, made quite a crowd in his room. 
But he kissed the ch'ldren, and talked with them, and 
their mothers. He also got his Greek books and 
called Grace to read over her lesson. He did not 
manifest any weariness, and at night I read to him 
from the newspapers, and he talked with interest 
about the items. 

" Through the night, however, he was quite rest- 
less ; but when I asked him if there was any pain, 
he answered, * None at all ; I am very comfortable.' 
I was giving medicine every two hours, and keeping 
the room at a regular temperature; so I slept but 
very little. Saturday morning he seemed better, 
and I left Grace with him, while I attended to some 
household duties. 

" Before dinner. Dr. Jones, of Clinton, came, 
bringing his son. After dinner he went into Mr. 
Kemper's room and had quite a long talk. When 
he left, my husband said, ' I am afraid that I talked 



272 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

too long. I get so interested about the entrance of 
a new boy, as so many failures are made by not 
starting with an earnest purpose to do their best. I 
w^anted to present the case fairly to the father. Be- 
sides, he was a very pleasant talker, and gave me his 
remedy for catarrh, which I think I shall try.' 

" That night I read the newspapers again, but he 
seemed to b^ sleeping most of the tiaie. He had, 
however, another restless night. Sunday morning 
the doctor ordered his bed moved into the parlor, so 
that he would not be disturbed by the noises. He 
was not quite pleased to make a change, as he said 
that he was not troubled by the noise. He concluded, 
however, that it was best, on account of the morning 
sunshine. From the beginning of his sickness until 
his closing hours there was no complaint : his bed 
was comfortable, his food and medicine pleasant to 
take ; there was not a pain in any part of his body. 
Although he groaned and tossed, he said that it was 
only a habit, and that I must stop him if it would do 
any harm. 

''As I had not slept for two nights, I was lying 
on the side of his bed and sleeping some; I did not, 
therefore, read aloud to him. As the doctor thought 
that he was doing well and would sleep that night, 
I concluded to stay alone with him again. But 
toward midnight there were some new symptoms 
Avhich made me very uneasy. T wandered about the 
house to find some one whom I might send for the 
doctor. But the doors were all locked, and I could 
not waken any one without making considerable dis- 
turbance. So I went back to work alone until day- 
light ; but I never closed my eyes for a moment, nor 



WELL DONE! 273 

rested at all. At five o'clock I sent for the doctor, 
and he quieted all my fears. 

'' From this time, however, he aroused from his 
dreamy, quiet condition, and was constantly instruct- 
ing the imaginary classes before him. He called the 
names of pupils, many of whom had gone before him 
to the spirit world. Those were very pleasant days 
of teaching. There were no bad lessons. There 
was no word of reproof, but every scholar gave pleas- 
ure. Often he would turn to me and tell me how 
well his boys were doing. When I would say that 
it was not best to tax his mind with his classes while 
he was sick, he would reply that there was no labor, 
for every boy was doing well. This apparent wan- 
dering of his mind, in thinking his classes were be- 
fore him, did not extend to other things. No one 
could enter the room, ever so lightly, without his 
recognizing them and speaking. We could not 
speak to him on any subject, that he did not fully 
understand our meaning. 

" On Tuesday, about noon, he commenced cough- 
ing, but said that it did not hurt him to do so. I 
felt alarmed at this new symptom, but the doctor 
considered it favorable. All Tuesday night he 
tossed and groaned, and I noticed that he held my 
hand in a closer grasp, and often drew my head down 
upon his pillow, although he talked but little. 
Through his entire sickness there had never passed 
an hour perhaps, without a prayer such as, ' O Lord, 
help me ! O Father, let Thy will be done.' But he 
never spoke of dying, and I do not think that he sup- 
posed his sickness was serious / never dreamed of 
the danger, until there was no mistaking the terrible 
13 



2 74 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

reality. The latter part of the night I had given 
him medicine to produce sleep. If that had not been 
done, his mind might have been clear to understand 
his true condition. The effect of this medicine was 
to produce a heavy slumber, from which he never 
fully aroused. 

^* When he saw us gathering anxiously around his 
bed, he said, ' Sing.' Asking what we should sing, 
his reply was, 

' Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe.' 

Our niece, Miss Jasper Bocock, and her brother 
Willis then sang the chorus. Dr. Gauss, our pas- 
tor, came in soon after, and asked him how he felt in 
the prospect of eternal scenes. His answer was, ' I 
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that 
He is able to keep that which I have committed unto 
Him against that day.' I said to him, ' Do you think 
that you are going to leave us?' and his answer was, 
' I do not feel that I am ! ' I added, ' Is it bright now ? ' 
and he said, ' Yes, all is calm — no pain, no anxiety ! ' 
He returned our kisses to the very last breath ; and 
he clasped my hand tightly after his pulse had 
stopped its beating. I believe that he at last real- 
ized the leave-taking, but had not strength to express 
his feelings. 

" The doctor says that there was some trouble of the 
heart the last morning, which balanced the scales 
against him ; for, until that time, there was every 
prospect of a recovery. This may have been true, as 
years ago he had complained of some unusual action 
of the heart, and several of his family had died very 
suddenly, as though the life-current had been stopped 



WELL DONE! 275 

without any warning. As I look back over his whole 
sickness, it is my firm belief that no medical skill 
could have saved his life. But oh, if I had realized 
that there was even danger in his case, what delight- 
ful talks we might have had about the heavenly 
home, and what words of comfort and cheer he could 
have left us! That we were denied this pleasure 
teaches me that our Heavenly Father knew that it 
was not best for us. We should learn the lesson, 
that God does not permit all of His redeemed ones 
to glorify Him in a dying hour; but they must do 
this in health, and in possession of all their mental 
powers. 

"I neglected to mention that, toward the last, he 
repeated over softly these lines : 

' Do noble things, not dream them all day long ; 
Thus making life, death, and that vast forever, 
One grand, sweet song ! ' 

'' God grant that this affliction may be rightly im- 
proved. If the youth who have been taught in this 
school should be led by it to give more earnest heed 
to the lessons of the past, and consecrate their lives 
to nobler work, then the death of their teacher may 
accomplish greater good than all his life labors." 

Thus passed away, like a little child, this great and 
good man, to join the good and great of earth who 
had preceded him. Thus passed away this faithful 
and successful teacher, to join his pupils and to sit at 
the feet of the Great Teacher. Thus passed away this 
wise and loving father, to join his seven little ones 
who were already at home in heaven. Thus passed 



276 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

away this humble, trusting, useful Christian, to join 
"the general assembly and church of the first-born," 
and to sing again with his mother " The Star of Beth- 
lehem," in that city where they " have no need of the 
liirht of the sun nor of the moon." 

" How fair and how lovely it is to behold 

The sun in his splendor approaching the west ! 
Its race is near ran, and, refulgent as gold, 

It glides through the ether as hastening to rest. 
It sinks, but in sinking 'tis only to rise, 

Its grandeur and glory afresh to display ; 
It sets, but, in other and far distant skies, 

It rises and reigns in the brightness of day. 

" Yet far more resplendent than this is the scene 

Of the good man approaching the confines of time ! 
All loving, all peaceful, all calm and serene, • 

He passes away with a brightness sublime. 
He dies, but no pencil can e-vier portray 

The splendor and glory that burst on his sight, 
As, guided by angels, he speeds on his way, 

Through the portals of praise to the temple of light." 

He died Wednesday, March 9, 1881. The funeral 
services were held Thursday, March 10, in the Presby- 
terian Church of Boonville, before a large and deeply 
m.oved congregation. All were mourners ; for all — 
the poor, the church, the community — felt that they, as 
well as the family, were deprived of a valuable and 
cherished friend and helper. In token of respect, 
the mayor of Boonville, J. F. Gmelich, issued a 
proclamation requesting that all places of business 
be closed during the funeral. There was a cheerful 
compliance with this request. He was borne into the 
church and out of it bv his fellow-officers and members 



WELL DONE! 277 

of the church, followed by his immediate family, as 
well as by his large family of boys, who were most 
deeply impressed by the removal from them of the 
venerable founder and esteemed head of their school. 
The exercises were conducted by the pastor, the 
Rev! O, W. Gauss, M.D., assisted by the Rev. B. T. 
Lacy, D.D. They consisted of the singing of fa- 
miliar gospel hymns, Scripture reading, and a funeral 
address. There was no formal text or sermon, but 
the remarks of the pastor were so felicitous that Dr. 
Lacy remarked afterward, "I did not say anything, 
because to touch a thing that is complete is to spoil 
it." The last hymn was one of Mr. Kemper's favor- 
ites, and was sung to the tune which he preferred. It 
was peculiarly appropriate to the occasion : — 

" Palms of glory, raiment bright." 

Before the congregation was dismissed, a telegram, 
just received by Colonel J. L. Stephens from Hon. L. 
M. Lawson, of New York, paying a touching tribute 
of respect and love to the memory of his endeared 
friend and honored teacher, was passed up to the 
pulpit and read. This will be found in a subsequent 
chapter. 

The procession to the cemetery was long, and made 
up of a much larger number of genuine mourners 
than is usual in such cases. With loving hands and 
weeping eyes, friends laid him in Walnut Grove 
Cemetery, by the side of the sleeping dust of his 
children, to await the blessed resurrection of the just. 

This chapter cannot be more fittingly closed than 
with the following extracts from a letter, written soon 
after his death by his sister, Mrs. S. M. Bocock : 



278 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" When the astounding intelligence of the death 
reached me, almost my first thought was of Spur- 
geon's illustration of the ^Abundant Entrance.' The 
good ship on her homeward voyage, coming into 
port on a fair day, with colors flying and music 
playing, amid the greetings of an expectant throng 
assembled for the welcome ! Then my heart cried 
out, Must all that gentleness and goodness, that 
loyal love of Right and Truth, pass away from 
earth? Can we not keep his example living, though 
he is gone? I felt that some one must try to photo- 
graph the spirit in a meniorial volume. 

'' His busy, loving, brave spirit, as seen in his every- 
day life, is a picture on which my mind will ever love 
to dwell. His ' table-talks ' were a perpetual marvel 
to me. Would that we had notes of some of them ! 
Often, often as I listened, I felt that if those ringing 
words could have been delivered to an assembled 
multitude, just as they were spoken there to those 
fifty boys seated around his tables, what fame would 
be his ! As I looked upon that earnest, beaming face, 
surrounded by his velvet cap and cloak, as he read 
and commented on some such Scripture as the 28th 
chapter of Job or the prophecies about Babylon and 
Nineveh and their fulfilment, or the latter part of the 
nth chapter of Matthew, I sometimes almost im- 
agined that one of the old Reformers had come back 
to us ! But so modest, and so absorbed was he in his 
life-work that, all unconscious of his greatness, he 
desired no other audience than his pupils. What an 
honest pride he had in those boys ! I can see him now, 
standing in his door, hat in hand, on a calm Sabbath 
morning, gazing on that solid phalanx of fine-looking 



WELL DONE! 279 

boys, from ten different States, all in their^uniforms, 
with their tutors and officers, marching to church. 
He seemed to feel somewhat as St. Paul felt, when 
he told the Thessalonians that they were his ' crown 
of rejoicing.' 

" I am spending the most curious winter of my life. 
I am here at the sweet old home almost alone ; sleeping 
in the chamber of my girlhood ; writing on a desk that 
was my grandmother's a hundred years ago ; wander- 
ing among shrubbery of my mother's planting; in 
sight of the graveyard, over the falls (we didn't say 
terraces in the old times), where my dead sisters and 
I played in childhood ; going over what were my 
husband's favorite walks in the ' long ago ;' sitting 
where my father sat at family prayers : the very 
air laden with memories, and I almost 'lingering for 
the feet, which never more my steps shall meet.' 
Thank God ! all, all who are gone were followers of 
our blessed vSaviour, and I doubt not are now together 
in ' Our Father's House.' " 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 

" Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, 
Have ofltimes no connexion. Knowledge dwells 
In heads replete with thoughts of other men ; 
Wisdom in minds attentive to their own." 

COV^PER. 

As we have already seen, Mr. Kemper began his 
life of teaching under the profound conviction that 
he was entering upon a profession in which a quarter 
of a century would be necessary to gain a knowledge 
of its principles. Those twenty-five years were 
passed by -him with single-hearted devotedness to his 
chosen work. From the time he taught as a post- 
graduate in Marion College, 1841 to 1866, when he 
was the honored head of the Family School which 
bears his name, his time, his energies, his talents, 
his means were all engrossed in the work of educa- 
tion. 

While he had inherited the conservatism of Old 
Virginia, which prevented him from making any 
change for the mere sake of change, or whose pro- 
priety might be questionable, he yet had breathed 
the free Western air in his early manhood, and was 
ready to put all plans and professed improvements 
into the testing crucible, and to adopt them, if they 



■THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 281 

proved to be the genuine gold. Thus it was that 
those years of self-allotted apprenticeship were years 
of rigid experiment, of constant pruning, and of 
equally constant growth and development. 

He was permitted to continue his work for fifteen 
years longer, and yet, to the day of his last service 
in the field of education, he never thought that his 
work was perfect. His conceptions and his plans for 
realizing them grew year by year, so that he prob- 
ably felt at the last that he was as far from reaching his 
ideal as he had been when he began over forty years 
before. Still there w^as a mighty change. He was 
a different man, developed both in knowledge and 
wisdom, as from infancy to manhood. The school, 
since it began in Boonville in 1844, now that its 
thirty-seventh year was ending, was as little like its 
beginning as the oak is like the acorn, or the Father 
of Waters like the incipient mountain stream. So 
great were the changes, so many were the improve- 
ments, that Mr. Kemper often said to us, who were 
his early pupils, that we would hardly realize that it 
was the same school. Had he lived a generation 
longer, this process of development would doubtless 
have continued. Every living man is a growing man. 
As soon as he ceases to grow physically he begins 
to die. So it is with him mentally and spiritually. 
Growth is the law of life ; it is the law of every living 
organism. 

It took Mr, Kemper forty years to make this school 
what it was and is. Every year it was doubtless 
better than the one preceding; and he left it, in the 
vigor of its growth, to the care of a skilled and pro- 
gressive mind, in the maturity of young manhood, 
13* 



282 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

under whom it will continue to expand, to drink in 
more of the dews of heaven, and to absorb more of 
the light of God's eternal truth. The best schools 
are necessarily the old schools, in the hands of 
living and progressive men. 

We have said so much to prevent a misconception 
of the title of this chapter. It is not The Perfect 
School. Mr. Kemper would never have claimed it to 
be so. We shall not do injustice to the memory of 
his honesty by making such a claim. In want of a 
better expression, we call it The Perfected School — 
that is, the school as, and so far as, perfected, devel- 
oped, completed by its founder. In this chapter, 
therefore, we shall seek to present the school, in all 
of its salient features, just as he left it. For this 
purpose we shall use his last catalogues, as setting 
forth his final views and plans on all the points of 
which they treat. They say : 

" We ask public attention to a few well defined 
characteristics of our life-work. 

"the school is small. 

" Unlike the colleges and public schools, we are 
limited by the accommodations and discipline of a 
family. Fifty pupils fill our school-room, dining- 
room, and lodging - rooms. No day scholars are 
admitted. The small portion of our scholars from 
the immediate vicinity board with the others, and 
every hour of the day and night is faithfully em- 
ployed in such labor or recreation as will promote 
our great end, which is 



THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 283 

"the making of men."^' 

"While assiduously increasing our familiarity 
with such of the arts and sciences as we teach, and 
conscientiously preparing for our daily recitations, 
(giving more time to preparation than when we were 
novices), we regard the imparting of knowledge as 
a very small part of our work. What a boy is and 
does, much more than what he has, determines his 
destiny. Hence a wise training is indispensable. 
This consists in an energetic obedience to law. This 
done, the great work is virtually accomplished, the 
powers are symmetrically developed, and the youth 
is prepared for an intelligent, self-controlled man- 
hood. 

" While we take no notoriously bad boys, and al- 
ways advertise that such cannot be satisfied here, 
such boys are not the most dangerous characters in 
school. 

"physical culture. 

*' A bountiful supply of good food, ample play- 
ground, with facilities for rowing, skating, and swim- 
ming, regular exercise in the open air, and sufficient 
time for sleep, are as systematically attended to as 
study in study hours. Only two pupils have died in 
this family school during its long history. 

* Not long before his death Mr. Kemper was called as a wit- 
ness into court. To identify him, the usual questions were put 
as to his name, residence, etc. When asked, " What is your oc- 
cupation ?" he bowed his head a moment, then looked up and re- 
plied, " The maker of men." 



284 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" MORAL DISCIPLINE. 

'' Referring to the ' course of study' for mental cult- 
ure, it must be reiterated that the moral part is the 
vital element in every true man's life. Education 
that ignores this is radically defective, and may prove 
a curse. Besides the daily reading and exposition of 
the Scriptures there are two Sunday lessons. In one 
of these the pupils study in a scholarly manner the 
text of the Bible (English, Latin, or Greek, accord- 
ing to their attainments) ; in the other they study the 
whole range of Biblical and church history, as syn- 
chronized with the history of the world in Lyman's 
Historical Chart. Pupils, while their religious 
preferences are respected, all attend church with 
the family. 

"But they are not simply taught the precepts of 
morals; their moral habits are regulated with au- 
thority. Industry, obedience, and respect for su- 
periors are steadily enforced. 

" SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 

"Our regulations are meant first to be based on 
the laws of man's nature, and then to be invincible. 
Giving boys all that a careful regard for their real 
wants should accord, we still purpose to control 
their evil tendencies, and to crush insubordination, 
defiance, and impudence. While it is tyrannous and 
wicked to break the manly spirit of boyhood, it is 
alike ruinous to the good boy, the bad boy, and the 
school, to allow indolence or disobedience to have 
its way. The true conception of our relation to our 
pupils is that of a father who has his children on 



THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 285 

drill ; while the ordinary idea of being ' a friend to 
the boys' involves so much pandering to their in- 
clinations as sacrifices their real interests and those 
of the school. 

" SMALL BOYS. 

"A few small boys of from nine to twelve years 
are admitted, if able to read respectably. Boys of 
this age will room in close proximity to the tutors, 
that they may be shielded from temptation and 
guarded in their rights. The younger our pupils 
are, the less we have to undo and reconstruct ; and 
the hardest work we have to do is to make thinkers 
of boys who come to us from the colleges. 

" LABORATORY. 

" The course of study in the departments of physi- 
cal science and mixed mathematics is well illustrat- 
ed. Without the expensive appliances of endowed 
colleges, which would be out of place here, every- 
thing is supplied which our course requires. We 
have a superior surveyor's transit, a compass, and 
suitable apparatus for illustrating chemistry, physics, 
and astronom.y. Additions are made from time to 
time as the progress of science demands. We have 
also regular weather observations in connection with 
the Missouri weather service, inaugurated by Prof. 
Nipher, of Washington University, St. Louis. 

'^ SIDE STUDIES. 

'' Pupils ordinarily have three recitations daily, of a 
kind to tax their powers. The invalid may, by order 
of the school physician, have two, one, or none, ac- 



286 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

cording to his ability. But besides this substantial 
work of the course, there are many other exercises, 
at once recreative and improving. Studying the 
visible heavens when the nights are clear, gymnas- 
tics, military drill, vocal music, table-talk in the lan- 
guages studied, drawing, and listening to the read- 
ing of newspapers and other matter, illustrate this 
feature. Webster's Academic Dictionary is not only 
used as a book of reference, but its various depart- 
ments are faithfully studied as a text-book, a kind 
oif culture in the English language almost unknown 
in the race after novelties. 

" Some topics of English grammar, arithmetic, and 
the English Dictionary constitute a 'table-talk ' for 
the English scholars, corresponding to the conversa- 
tional exercises of the students of the languages. 

" SCHOOL UNIFORM. 

" This promotes economy, suppresses vanity, and 
identifies our pupils on the streets, so that they are 
not chargeable with street rowdyism. The uniform 
consists of coat, pants, and cap of cadet gray, cut in 
the military style. It costs from I20 to $30, accord- 
ins: to size. It must be worn on the streets, at all 
public places, and on dress occasions, and one suit 
must always be in order. But any clothing a pupil 
may bring with him can be used in the school-room 
and on the play-ground. Jewelry must not be worn, 
and all foppery and dash in dress are discouraged as 
unbecoming the character of students. With the uni- 
form must be worn standing collars and plain black 
neckties or bows. 



THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 287 

*' SLEEPING-ROOMS. 

" The sleeping-rooms are used only for sleep, wash- 
ing, and dressing. It would be subversive of all order 
to allow undisciplined youth to study in their private 
rooms. Studying is done in a common room, and 
always under the supervision of a teacher. Pupils 
have access, under proper regulations, to the sitting- 
rooms and parlor. The lodging-rooms are airy and 
not crowded. 

" POCKET-MONEY. 

'' No student is allowed to handle pocket-money. 
Money designed for the use of our pupils should 
never be sent to them, but to Mr. T. A. Johnston, 
who will see that it is properly applied. The best 
characters in the school spend the least money. Parents 
should keep a small deposit of money with Mr. J. 
for the contingent expenses of their sons. Students 
are not allowed to go in debt, and parents are ex- 
pected to agree not to pay debts contracted without 
our consent. Our pupils are not allowed to receive 
eatables from home. Their fare is that of a ' well-to- 
do family.' They have an abundance, and superadded 
luxuries unfit them for work. 

'- parents' contract. 

" Parents are expected to interfere as little as pos- 
sible with the school government, and it is important 
that they should at all times give it their hearty sup- 
port. Ill-advised sympathy may confirm a boy in a 
course of insubordination that will render it neces- 
sary to send him home. Parents are expected to 
make the following agreement and pledge, which 



2 88 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

will be sent them for signature at the time of enter- 
ing their sons : 

" ' I understand and accept the terms of the Kem- 
per Family School, as set forth in the catalogue of 
the past year. My son has not been ex- 
pelled from any school or college ; and as far as I 
understand his character, he is not likely to give 
trouble to the government of the school. I will send, 
or cause to be sent, any money designed for his use 
only tb Mr. Johnston ; I will pay no debts of his, 
contracted without proper permission ; and I will 
not allow eatables to be sent him from home. I will 
claim no refunding of his year's board and tuition 
bill in case he leaves school without the consent of 
the principals or school physician, or is expelled for 
rebellion or general immorality.' 

" BOOKS FOR ALL. 

" The following books are used in all the courses, 
and every student needs them. They may be brought 
from home together with any others mentioned in the 
list of studies : Fulton & Eastman's Bookkeeping, 
with Blanks; Mason's Gymnastics ; Webster's Aca- 
demic Dictionary ; English Bible ; American Tune 
Book ; Lyman's Historical Chart and Key ; Quarto 
Blank Book. 

"preliminary examinations. 

'* Quite a large proportion of our boys enter school 
professing to have finished various sciences and olo- 
gies^ and yet when a printed page is placed before them 
they cannot master its ideas or pronounce its words. 
In order to ascertain who are deficient in matters of el- 



THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 289 

ementary culture, our entrance examinations will in- 
clude more or less extended practice in reading, pen- 
manship, elementary arithmetic, and kindred points, 
before we admit to classification ; and those who need 
it will be kept at such work until they acquire profi- 
ciency. 

" LATIN AND GREEK. 

" Latin and Greek are taught with the strictest at- 
tention to pronunciation and grammatical structure, 
and in reading the poets, to the laws of versification. 
In the study of Latin, both the Roman and English 
methods of pronunciation are taught and practised. 
The Roman method is beautifully grand, simple, 
and scientific, and reproduces the sounds in which 
Cicero thundered and Virgil sang. The English 
method, on the other hand, furnishes the easiest way 
of learning the laws of our own tongue, and is the 
system which usage has established for the pronun- 
ciation of Classical and Biblical proper names and 
scientific terms. In connection with the study of 
Latin and Greek we have a system of table-talk, by 
which the student learns and combines in simple 
sentences the names of articles of food, dress, and 
furniture, parts of the body, and other familiar ob- 
jects. This talking exercise gives the tongue and 
ear valuable culture not easily acquired in mere reci- 
tation. 

" OTHER POINTS OF CULTURE. 

" All the scholars are exercised in tracing the con- 
stellations and using the globes. Spelling is care- 
fully attended to in connection with all written 
exercises. Written exercises are frequent, and are 



290 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

made the means of efficient drill in penmanship, use 
of paragraphs, capital letters, marks of punctuation, 
and other details of correct writing. Stress is laid 
on accuracy of pronunciation, and clear, forcible, and 
correct speaking. Geography and Chronology are 
taught in connection with history. Special classes 
are formed on occasion to train those who are defi- 
cient in spelling, reading, geography, and mental 
arithmetic. 

'' VOCAL MUSIC. 

" Music is a short daily exercise for all. Those 
who are incapable of vocalization are not expected 
to sing, but they, equally with the rest, are required 
to learn the principles of musical notation and the 
art of reading music, as necessary points of good 
culture. For practice in singing, a choir is formed 
of those having good voices. 

''gymnastics and drill. 

" In addition to the studies pursued, we practice a 
system of gymnastics and military drill, which, with- 
out being very elaborate or consuming much time, is 
of value in promiOting precision and grace of bear- 
ing. 

" TIME OF admission. 

" Every student who enters the school is held le- 
gally bound to continue in it for one year, or for 
the remainder of the year if he enters after its com- 
mencement, unless bad conduct or the state of his 
health renders it necessary to send him home. Ex- 
cept in cases of confirmed bad health, we distinctly 



THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 291 

claim the payment of the bill for the entire year, or 
of the part remaining after entrance. 

'* EXAMINATIONS AND EXHIBITIONS. 

" At the close of each school year the classes are ex- 
amined before their friends and relatives and persons 
specially invited, in the subjects pursued by tliem 
during the year. These examinations are designed 
to show the proficiency of the students in the subjects 
studied, and also to illustrate the methods of instruc- 
tion and drill that are followed. The relatives of 
the students and the friends of education from a dis- 
tance are specially invited to attend the examinations. 
The only public exhibitions are the exercises of the 
graduating class, which take place in the school 
building. 

"health arrangements. 

"The subject of health receives special attention. 
Two hours' daily exercise in the open air is a school 
duty, and opportunity is given for three. The best care 
is taken of the sick. The school physician is a gentle- 
man of thorough medical culture, and is a salaried 
officer of the institution. He visits the school daily, 
and without charge to those who are treated, looks 
after the health of all who need his services. If the 
serious nature of a case demands it, he will bring to 
it a consulting physician at his own charge. If any 
one desires other medical attendance than that of the 
regular physician, it must be at his own expense. 

" TERMS. 

" Board and tuition in all the branches (except 
German, French, and piano, for which an extra charge 



292 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

will be made), including the former extras of phy- 
sician's fee, pew rent, lights, and sick-room charges, 
for scholastic year of forty weeks, $310. French 
and German each %2 per month ; piano instruction, 
$40 per session ; use of instrument, $10. Board and 
tuition are payable, one half at the opening of the 
session, and the remainder on the fifteenth day of 
December. Negotiable notes bearing ten per cent 
interest will be required, if payments are not made 
when due. Drafts sent must be in St. Louis or New 
York exchange. Charges on money sent by express 
must be prepaid. 

" The entire year consists of one session ; and any 
student entering school during any particular ses- 
sion is held bound for the whole or remaining part 
of it. When the entrance is so late that it is neces- 
sary to charge for a fractional part of the year, it will 
be counted as consisting of thirty-three weeks instead 
of forty. This rule is adopted to compensate us for 
the trouble of fitting late students for classes that 
have already made progress. The same rule is ob- 
served in making deductions for absence. All de- 
ductions are at our option. We hold bound for the 
bill of the entire year all boys who leave school 
Avithout our consent, or who have to be expelled for 
immorality or rebellion; 

" ADVANCE PAYMENT. 

"To prevent all misunderstanding as to what 
scholars are engaged, it is necessary to pay in advance 
$30 of the school bill. Places are not reserved 
against others who comply with the terms unless 
this is done. The amount is forfeited if the student 
fails to come. 



THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 293 

" INCIDENTAL EXPENSES. 

" Parents must not expect us to pay the expenses 
of boys and look to them for reimbursement. We 
need our money for immediate use, and besides can- 
not incur the risk of loss. Boys must not go in 
debt when it can be avoided. When there is money 
for a boy's use with Mr. Johnston, he will be allowed 
to spend it discreetly under Mr. J.'s supervision ; but 
when the amount is exhausted he will not be allowed 
to purchase anything unless absolutely necessary for 
comfort. Debt is the curse of business, and a boy 
should not learn that he has such a thing as credit. 
Rich parents must not allow their boys to spend too 
much money. It begets in them expensive tastes 
which they may some day be unable to gratify, and 
in school it generates the same tastes in others who 
have no superfluous money to spend. 



" Washing costs from %\o to $25, according to 
personal habits. Fuel is furnished for all study 
hours and for sitting-rooms. Boys are not allowed 
to have fires in their rooms except by special per- 
mission, with due regard to health. The rooms are 
used only for sleeping, washing, and dressing. 



DAMAGE TO PROPERTY. 



" Scholars are responsible for all damages to prop- 
erty done by them, and the common occupants of a 
room or any other property are jointly responsible 
for its good condition. When damages are concealed, 



294 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

the cost of repair is divided among all the scholars. 
We have formerly required a deposit of $3 to meet 
such expenses, but experience leads us to believe the 
moral effect will be better to assess them as they 
occur. 



" Sick boys are placed under the care of the family 
physician and a competent nurse. 

"Students while here must not use profane or 
vulgar language, drink intoxicating drinks, or use 
tobacco, either by smoking or chewing. 

"Reports showing the scholarship and moral 
standing of each pupil are made and sent to parents 
every four weeks. Special reports are made if 
a scholar's case requires it. 

" While our pupils' legitimate correspondence is 
sacred, and they get their mail as we do ours, we 
allow no letters to be received from parties in Boon- 
ville, without our inspection. This is a necessary 
restraint upon the demoralizing influence of village 
society. 

" We occasionally exercise the right to examine 
express packages sent to the boys, if we have good 
reason to think that contraband articles are so sent. 
And if a scholar's condition makes it needful, we 
limit his correspondence to parties licensed by his 
parents or guardian. Boys who have been expelled 
must cease correspondence with any of our pupils, 
except by special permission. 

" Boys are not permitted to go on the streets with- 
out special permission. 



THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 295 

" COURSE OF STUDY. 

'' Our curriculum and drill are designed to fit 
students in the most thorough manner for college 
and the United States naval and military schools, 
and to give those who may not wish to pursue their 
studies further the best possible substitute for a full 
educational course. 

" Students have the choice of three courses of 
study, which differ in the relative amounts of the 
Classics and Sciences. Each course has three classes, 
and is arranged for the nominal time of three years ; 
but proficiency and not time is the requisite for ad- 
vancement, and the length of time will vary in differ- 
ent cases. Every student is required to enter and 
continue in one of the courses, unless special circum- 
stances make a change necessary. If parents desire 
a particular course for their sons, they should give 
explicit information on entering them. We provide 
a more extended course for those who may wish to 
continue their studies with us after graduation. The 
names and studies of the courses are given below. 

" The subjects in the numbered paragraphs under 
the name of each class constitute the three daily 
studies of each member of the class, and are pursued 
in the order given. Those denominated side studies 
are short daily exercises or weekly recitations. 



'"'■ I. English Grammar completed. 2. Arithmetic 
completed. 3. Latin begun (Harkness's Latin Gram- 
mar and Jones's Lessons) ; Latin Prose Composition 
(Harkness). 



296 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. ' 

'' Side Studies. — Bookkeeping (Fulton & Eastman) ; 
History (Lyman's Historical Chart) ; Declamation; 
Letter Writing ; Bible ; Sacred History ; Vocal Music ; 
Drawing ; Tracing Constellations. 

"middle class. 

" I. Caesar (Harkness) ; Latin Prose Composition. 
2. Greek begun (Hadley's Grammar and Boise's 
Lessons). 3. Algebra (Robinson). 

^^ Side Studies. — Bookkeeping; Lyman's Chart 
continued; Declamation and Composition; Latin 
Testament (Beza) ; Sacred History; Vocal Music; 
Drawing; Tracing Constellations. 

"latin course. JUNIOR CLASS." 

The studies were the same as those of the Classic 
cal Junior. 

" MIDDLE CLASS." 

The studies weretlie same as those of the Classical 
Middle, except that, in place of Greek, Hooker's 
Chemistry and Avery's Natural Philosophy, or Ger- 
man, or French were inserted. 

" SENIOR CLASS. 

" I. Cicero's Orations; Ovid's Metamorphoses; 
^neid; Latin Prose Composition. 2. Moral Phi- 
losophy (Peabody) ; Mental Philosophy (Alden) ; 
Logic (Atwater) {German or French optional in place 
of Moral and Mental Philosophy and Logic). 3. Ge- 
ometry, Trigonometry, and Surveying, with use of 
Surveyor's Transit, Compass and Plotting Instru- 
ments. 



THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 297 

*''• Side Studies. — Double Entry Bookkeeping; 
Lyman's Chart; Latin Testament; Church History ; 
Vocal Music; Drawing; Tracing Constellations. 

"commercial course." 

The Junior studies were the same as those of the 
Classical Junior, except that Science Primers of 
Chemistry and Physics were put in the place of Latin. 

The Middle Class studies were the same in this 
course as in the Classical, except that Hill's Rhetoric, 
Youmans's Botany, Chemistry, and Natural Philoso- 
phy (with German or French optional instead of 
them) were substituted for Greek and Latin. 

In the Senior Class of this course, Geology, Min- 
eralogy, and Steele's Zoology (with German or 
French optional for them). Moral and Mental Phi- 
losophy, and Logic were put in the place of Greek and 
Latin in the Classical Course ; and Champlin's Po- 
litical Economy was added to the side studies. 

"post-graduate course. 

"This course includes Spherical Geometry and 
Trigonometry, Analytical Geometry and Calculus, 
and sufficient Latin and Greek to fit a student for the 
Senior Class in college. 

" GRADUATION. 

"Those who satisfactorily complete either of the 
regular courses, and whose morals and conduct have 
been good during their connection with the school, 
will be awarded a certificate of proficiency on pay- 
ment of a graduating fee of five dollars." 
14 



298 THE LIFE OF PROF. I^ EM PER, 

" PRIVATE SCHOOL. 

" In contradistinction from the public and denomi- 
national schools and colleges, this institution is an 
independent private enterprise. Responsible to no 
board of trustees and to no church court, its friends 
and indorsers are the men it has ' turned out ' during 
the thirty-six years of its history. In the strength of 
this characteristic, it has held on its way without aid 
from Church or State, and especially without the aid 
of ' drummers. ' No pupil enters here at our personal 
solicitation. Our work is pursued as a 

" PROFESSION FOR LIFE. 

"The Senior Principal has had more than forty 
years' experience. With singleness of purpose and 
enthusiastic ardor he has ' magnified his office' as an 
educator of men, as distinguished from the mere 
teacher. While advancing age will soon diminish 
the amount- of his own labor, he has surrounded him- 
self with younger men, graduates of this school and 
of the State University, who enjoy advantages he 
never had. 

" SUCCESS REDUCIBLE TO LAW. 

" This school is not a reformatory for bad boys ; 
such should keep away. But it claims to be an insti- 
tution for producing the best results with fair ma- 
terial, and WITH THE CERTAINTY OF LAW. ' Train up 
a child in the way he should go, and when he is old 
he will not depart from it.' Training implies military 
exactitude in small matters as well as in great. Going 
with faithful scrutiny into all the details of a boy's 
interests, why should we not realize in practice 



THE PERFECTED SCHOOL. 299 

the desired results ? Let the history of two genera- 
tions of obedient pupils educated here witness the 
validity of this claim. 

" THE pupils' rights. 

^' Before we demand obedience, we are careful to 
accord to a pupil all that his health, comfort, and 
self-respect demand. The school property covers an 
area of over thirty acres, with the most ample play- 
ground. There is a recess of ten minutes out of 
every study hour, three daily play-times, a weekly 
and a monthly holiday, and special holidays at 
Christmas and Easter. All that skilled physicians 
recommend is provided. A farm of four hundred 
acres is carried on especially for the school, and the 
supplies are characterized, without pretentious style, 
by profuse liberality. Every one has daily opportu- 
nity to bring his grievances to the proper authority, 
and we would rather steal a boy's money than do in- 
justice to his feelings. On the other hand, grumblers 
are not tolerated. We know they are more disposed 
to propagate slander than to get their rights. 

*' SELF-DENIAL 

lies at the basis of every valuable character. The 
rose-water theories of education make it rather an 
amusement than a discipline. We sometimes get 
young men of fair exterior, who have never had to 
do anything they disliked. They are here taught, 
and very practically, that such characters may be in- 
nocent, but cannot be truly virtuous. Every farmer 
knows that if he should have a set of boy-laborers, 
he would have to do the thinking and enforce his 



300 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

plans with all authority. We do not ignore the 
homely truth that fixing the attention vigorously and 
protractedly is harder work than ploughing. Without 
this habit education is a failure and a snare. Hence 
the failure of so many sons of the rich. They have 
never learned to study so as to have higher than sen- 
sual enjoyments." 

We have copied almost the entire catalogue of 
1879-80, in order that, in his own chosen words, 
all the characteristics of the school might be fully 
set forth. While there are doubtless features in 
the management which he himself would have sub- 
sequently modified, and other improvements which 
he would have introduced, still this authorita- 
tive presentation of the school as it was at the close 
of his administration will be interesting to all his 
earlier pupils, and will become increasingly so, in 
the changes of the future, to all who enjoyed the 
benefits of his personal training. 

We shall now undertake to present and to bring 
out more prominently what were the great facts of 
his professional character as an educator. 




T. AJOHNSTON 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE EDUCATOR. 

" A pleasant manner and a helpful word, 
A manly spirit, from no task deterred, 
A wholesome temper held in just restraint, 
A soul that long endures without complaint, 
A heart in strict accordance with God's plan, 
Are attributes becoming any man." 

The historical portion of this volume is now com- 
plete. We are -yet to give such an estimate as we 
can of the character of Mr. Kemper. Here, at the 
very threshold, we stand abashed in conscious ina- 
bility to do our subject justice. For such cold 
analytical work requires a steadier hand and a less 
impassioned judgment than belong to the closest 
friendship. The honest biographer feels himself 
steering his bark through narrow straits. He fears, 
on the one hand, that the admiration of the pupil 
may lead him to fulsome flattery ; and in guarding 
against this he is liable to run upon the rocks of 
cold, critical indifference. As Mr. Kemper was one 
of the most honest of men, carrying his heart in his 
hand, we shall endeavor to set him forth just as he was. 
As he was a life-long teacher, we shall in this chapter- 
present the salient points in his character as an 
Educator. 



30 2 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

He had a very high ideal of what a teacher ought 
to be. It may appear to some to have been visionary, 
so far does it transcend, not only the realizations, 
but also the aspirations of all ordinary instructors. 
This will appear from the following extract, taken 
from one of his commonplace books, written prob- 
ably in the fall of 1848 : 

" THE educator's FIELD OF LABOR. 

" Hoc age et age solum. '0 aypoq eartv 6 Koofiog. 

" Spelling, Reading, Penmanship, Arithmetic, 
Geography, Grammar, Speaking, Music, History, 
Languages and their Literature, Mathematics, Phi- 
losophy, Bible, Education, Webster as an Ency- 
clopaedia. 

" In all the above the teacher must proceed upon 
the idea that a book is an evil, a necessary evil — failing 
in its interest and clearness far more than a written 
sermon loses by want of gesture, and countenance, 
and spontaneous feeling of the natural extempore 
orator. He must be able to go ahead and out of the 
book, equalling the author in knowledge of the sub- 
ject, and superadding to this the peculiar technical 
knowledge and contrivance of the teacher; exposing 
the author's crudities, correcting iiis errors. 

" The book, then, is a necessary evil. Thinking 
the great art to be learned. Objects (sensible) to be 
constantly studied. Much oral instruction and Hol- 
brook exercises to be interspersed. Practical bota- 
nists and chemists, etc., by manipulations to be made. 
Practical accountants and letter-writers to be con- 
stantly perfected and turned out as- such. The idea 
that things are best learned practically by being 



THE EDUCATOR. 303 

learned scientifically {i.e., as they are) and practically 
applied, is to be demonstrated and exemplified. 

" The affections of his scholars are to be inter- 
ested, enlisted, by reflecting his own affections for 
them. He is to be all as a man and a Christian that 
it is desirable for them to be. To impose no task in 
which he cannot lead and exemplify. Lastly, to 
' Paint for immortality.' 

" The extent of this field is best seen by comparing 
it wnth other fields : 

" I. It embraces the profession of an autJior, The 
teacher's attention to any one book in learning and 
teaching it will equal that of the author. So he is 
a classical editor, mathematical writer, etc., etc. 

'' 3. Professor of Elocution and practical lecturer 
{infer legendum). 

"3. Professor of Penmanship. 

" 4. Professor of English Language and Literature. 

" 5. Professor of Mathematics. 

*' 6. Professor of Latin and Greek. 

" 7. Professor of Drawing. 

" 8. Practical Bookkeeper. 

"9. Professor of Music. 

" 10. Professor and Lecturer on History and Statis- 
tics. Statesman. 

"11. Professor and Lecturer on Chemistry, Botany, 
Astronomy, Natural Philosophy, and a dozen natural 
sciences, 

'' 12. Professor of Moral Philosophy, Bible, Chris- 
tian evidences. Mental Philosophy, Polity, and Politi- 
cal Economy. Lawyer and preacher. 

" 13. Education. A Pythagoras, Socrates, and a 
Pestalozzi. 



304 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" 14. A gardener, orchardist, and student of health. 
Doctor. 

, "15. Student of Webster's Dictionary as an ency- 
clopaedia, and of other encyclopaedias, large and small, 
universal and special. Chatham read the dictionary 
regularly through. 

"16. A housekeeper, to sweep, dust, wash floors, 
windows, clean stoves, keep library and school furni- 
ture, books, copies, slates, pencils, in place and in 
order. Carpenter for school architecture. Cabinet- 
maker for school furniture. 
" Another aspect : — 

" Schedule each boy for every quarter in the day. 
" Synopsis of each schedule, embracing studies and 
time to each. 

" Time each has been in school, and time he has 
devoted to each study. Seat each. 

'' Characterize each mental condition and means 
for correction. 

" Destination of each. 

" Who during next week shall receive, and needs, 
most attention ; who is sleepy, or has dislike to 
teacher or school; and who simply has little interest 
or is in danger of backsliding. 

"Study parents' home government and how its 
evils are to be removed. 

" Study plans for getting public attention and 
interest (best done by really subserving this interest). 
" History of past failures and successes, and plans 
based upon these facts." 

This extract chiefly shows the comprehensive 
range of duties which, in Mr. Kemper's estimation, 
belong to the teacher's sphere. The extent of his 



THE EDUCATOR, 305 

scholarship is here partially revealed. It may be 
more specially stated that his studies were of quite 
an extensive sweep. There were doubtless brandies 
for which he had a special fondness, and in which 
he was more than ordinarily successful. He was not^ 
however, in any department a specialist. His scholar 
ship was comprehensive. It embraced the entire 
range of English literature, oratory, poetry, drama, 
fiction, history, essays, travels, science, arts, theology, 
as found in both books and periodicals. He was 
well read in the classics of Greece and Rome. He 
had probably read them all, from Homer to Lon- 
ginus, from Terence to Tacitus. He had studied 
thoroughly the entire course of mathematics, and 
was well acquainted with its applications to survey- 
ing, engineering, navigation, mechanics, and astron- 
omy. He had familiarized himself, to a greater or 
less degree, with Hebrew, French, Spanish, Italian, 
and German. French he had taught. The elements 
of all the natural sciences he had mastered, and kept 
himself well informed as to the advances made in 
these progressive studies. There are few men who 
were as familiar as he with every department of 
general history. In the metaphysical sciences he 
had drunk at the fountain head of Attic philosophy, 
and had followed the current of speculative thought 
down through the middle ages, until it spread itself 
out in modern times under the engineering of Bacon 
and Descartes, into the seas of materialism and of 
idealism. He had appropriated Flamilton and 
Morell. He had made the Book of books a daily 
study for half a century, until its history, geography, 
ethnologv, antiquities, legislation, poetry, morality, 

14* 



3o6 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

and theology were as familiar to him well-nigh as 
his school or his farm. There are not many men, 
even in professional circles, who had traversed the 
entire field of liberal study so completely as had he. 
As far as possible, he had mastered the pantology 
of sciences. 

Mr. Kemper's accuracy in his studies was fully as 
remarkable as the range of them. Dr. Leighton has 
alluded to this as one of his early habits. No in- 
telligent pupil or friend could fail to observe it. 
His commonplace books (of which he left several 
which are extremely interesting) bear testimony to 
it. For example, on Nov. 3, 1836, when, twenty years 
old, he had lately entered the preparatory department 
of Marion College, he writes: •'' Take up Adams's 
Grammar and read over his list of Latin authors, 
and think what you would give to be able to read them 
fluently — to read them, as it is said Locke and Newton 
did, for recreation. Now true wisdom in this matter 
is to resolve to pass no recitation without having 
completely mastered the lesson and laid it away in 
the memory. Learn all about the derivation^ corn- 
position, and proper use of every word. This mode of 
study will create an absorbing interest and pleasure 
in reading Latin, and will eventuate in filling the 
wnsh intimated at the head of this page." In this 
same book, on a former page, he says: "When you 
enter upon a book or a science extract all its sweets, 
if it takes twelve readings." Again, studying a 
Greek Grammar written in Latin, he writes: "'O1;, 
conson. seq. — ovk, vocali tenui seqiienii — ov X-, ^^<I- "i-^oc. 
aspirat.' Now 1 could not conceive for some time 
what ^ tenui vocali' meant; and as to an aspirate vowel, 



THE EDUCATOR. 307 

thought I, who ever heard of it? But on reading 
the Latin explanation, I found that there is such a 
thing as an aspirate vowel, 6ri\ that ^ fdniii,' in 
contradistinction to '■ aspirat' means smooth. I know 
all about ojjt.'" 

When a teacher he wrote: " Philosopher's stone in 
studying : Fill up all the little moments in minutely- 
studying small parts of lessons, and persevere till 
the longest lessons are read in shortest time, say a 
whole book of Virgil in fifty minutes, whole Chart 
in two and a half hours or three." One more quo- 
tation will suffice : *' The teacher must have an en- 
tire scholastic course of learning, academical and 
collegiate, so familiarized that a Saturday afternoon 
for recreation, after the severer labors of the week, 
he can read a book of the Iliad, or a tragedy of 
Euripides, or two books of Virgil, or Lysias against 
Eratosthenes, or Gospel of Luke, or Dalzell's Mis- 
cellaneous Excerpts, or a book of Horace's Satires, or 
Livy, or a book of Geometry, Conies, or Calculus, 
or what either of my grammars teaches about nouns, 
adjectives, verbs, etc., locating pages, also a dialect, 
with every geographical, historical, archaeological, 
mythological, etymological, syntactical, prosodial, 
tropical or rhetorical, synonymical, and other al- 
lusion." His motto was, ^'■Divide et Impera.'" 

That he fully reached this extremely high standard 
of scholarship he nowhere. asserts, nor do we claim 
it for him. Such, however, was his ideal, and he 
constantly strove for its realization, with a success 
which but very few men have achieved. As we thus 
review the unusual sweep and accuracy of his at- 
tainments, we wonder that no institution ever did 



3o8 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

itself the honor to confer upon him that highest 
scholastic title, the degree of LL.D. When leading 
universities cast these pearls before swine, giving 
them to brainless demagogues and pretentious 
sciolists, it is perhaps as well that his name should 
not have been written by the side of theirs. 

As connected with his scholarship, there is another 
interesting fact to be noted, in direct relation to his 
work as a teacher. We refer to his habitual prep- 
aration for meeting his classes in recitation. What 
has already been noticed is of the character of gen- 
eral preparation. In addition to this, it was his 
custom to prepare specially for each recitation. This 
was done sessionally, weekly and daily. During the 
vacation he mapped out his work for the coming 
year, deciding what branches should be taught to 
each grade of pupils, and what text-books and other 
appliances should be used. He reviewed and enlarged 
his knowledge of all these branches so that he might 
be a more intelligent teacher than he had been the 
year before. 

A large part of each Saturday was devoted to 
making himself ready for the instruction of the 
coming week. As he says in his note-books, '' All 
lessons must be reviewed a week ahead." Finally, 
each night he made a thorough and conscientious 
preparation for the labors of the succeeding day. 
He neglected no branch that he taught, from the 
spelling-book up to the calculus. In the simplest 
lesson there might be some word, whose pronuncia- 
tion, meaning, geography, or history might need elu- 
cidation. 

With reference to this work he says : " In preparing 



THE EDUCATOR. 309 

for school, inquire — First, Whether everything in the 
lesson is perfectly known, so as to change place with 
scholar and let him try to catch you without success. 
Second, Whether there would be no shame in pres- 
ence of a philosopher /;//^r ^^^^//^//;;/. Third, Whether 
you can give prelections and prepare class for next 
lesson and not assign one of improper length. 
Fourth, Are week's lessons in tJiis department with- 
in my grasp ? Fifth, Session's also. Sixth, Do I 
know the circumstances and mental condition of 
each member of the class, and his affections toward 
me? Seventh, Parents' design in educating him, 
and the state of feeling between parents, teacher, and 
child. Eighth, Have I class list and text-book mss. 
both in good condition, and the time devoted by each 
pupil to this branch, and whether at school or at 
home ? Ninth, How is it about the whole text-book ? 
Can I find anything dark on fifteen minutes' review ? 
Tenth, How often will a review be necessary to keep 
the knowledge bright ?" 

There is no question but that a lamentable and un- 
necessary ignorance on the part of many teachers is 
one of the chief causes of their shameful and dis- 
astrous failures. This ignorance is largely unneces- 
sary, because it is due. to a want of conscientious 
industry on their part. It is undoubtedly a just rule, 
that no person is fitted to take charge of a class for 
recitation, unless he is perfectly familiar with the 
subject treated in the lesson. He should know it as 
thoroughly as the man who wrote the book. A 
teacher who is a slave to his text-book, who must 
have it in his hand and before him for the asking and 
the answering of every question, is a stick, a mere 



3 TO TFIE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

machine, and a very poor one. Alas ! there are many 
such. If such persons had the industry and the con- 
science carefully to prepare for every recitation, so 
that, as Mr. Kemper says, they could exchange places 
with their pupils without shame, they would find 
teaching a pleasure, and they would be of tenfold 
more value to the minds intrusted to their care. No 
teacher should face a class unless he has made special 
and thorough preparation for the exercises. We 
have heard some say that they did not need such 
preparation. Mr. Kemper felt that he needed it the 
very last year of his life. Agassiz studied fishes till 
his death. He who does not study has ceased to 
learn. He who has ceased to learn is retrograding, 
and will never make a teacher. There can be no life, 
no earnestness, no glow of spirit, no success in the 
class-room, unless the teacher burns the oil of pa- 
tient, persevering, plodding preparation. Young 
men, young women, teachers, this is one lesson taught 
by the great example of Mr. Kemper, the prince of 
teachers. 

We have said that Mr. Kemper had a high ideal of 
what a teacher ouglit to be. We have seen what this 
meant, so far as extensive and accurate scholarship 
and conscientious preparation for his class work 
went. We are now to look at it from a different and 
a higher standpoint. He caused to be printed upon 
the letter head of the Kemper Family School, this de- 
vice, " Education, not Teaching, our Life-Work." 
In these five words we have expressed the most im- 
portant truths of his professional career. They are 
words which ought to be engraved upon his monu- 
ment. The principles which they embody, and which 



^ THE EDUCATOR. 311 

were so fully realized in his life, made him without a 
peer in the school-rooms of Missouri. There are two 
main thouQ-hts in them. 

He was an Educator, as distinguished from a 
Teacher. There are some intelligent people, who do 
not know that there is any difference between these 
two characters. There is a connection between them. 
The educator is always a teacher. He teaches as a 
part of his work of education. The teacher, however, 
is not always an educator. He may be, and too often 
is, a sedticafor, if we may coin a word to express an 
idea. A mere teacher has to do with the intellect 
alone of his pupil. Indeed his work is hardly so 
broad even as this. It may be said to exhaust itself 
mainly upon the memory. His effort is to store the 
mind of his pupil with truths and facts. If he suc- 
ceeds, the pupil becomes a man of intelligence. He 
has acquired knowledge more or less varied and ex- 
tensive. Knowledge, sa3^s the great inductive phi- 
losopher, is power, and is in itself a good and veiy 
desirable possession. There is a sense in which it is 
true that we cannot have too much of it. There is, 
however, another sense in which a mind may have 
too much knowledge. This is true when the facts 
learned are either of a trivial or of an injurious char- 
acter. But even with reference to important truth, 
there ma}^ be a cramming or an overstocking of the 
mind. As already said on a former page, the human 
intellect is like the human stomach. Its digestive 
capacity is limited. Every ounce of food, beyond 
the digestive power of assimilation, is not only useless 
but an injury. It docs not strengthen, it weakens. 
So every truth, lodged in the mind as a piece of un- 



312 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

appropriated lumber, does not form a part of the 
furniture or of the machinery of the soul. It is only 
so much cumbersome rubbish. But, aside from all 
this, the teacher does, in his pi-oper sphere, a very 
necessary and important work. Truth is the food of 
the soul, and, if given in pure and proper quantities 
is a part of the life of the spirit. The teacher's work 
however, at its very best, is, as we have already said, 
extremely limited. At most it is for the intellect 
alone. 

The educator, on the other hand, is all that the 
best teacher is, and he is infinitely more. His work 
is to form the character, to mould the life, to develop 
and to direct the immortal powers of man. The ed- 
ucator is, under God, "a maker of men," av^poa- 
Ttonoioi — not a portrait-painter, but a man-maker. 
The educator concerns himself with the body of his 
pupil, its health and comfort, and especially w4th its 
proper development, that it may become the best 
possible home and instrument for its indwelling 
spirit. He concerns himself with the expected vo- 
cation of his pupil, to see whether he is adapted to 
it, and if so, to prepare him for it. He concerns 
himself with the mind of his pupil, to learn its ap- 
titudes and weaknesses, that he may take advantage 
of the former and strengthen the latter. The educa- 
tor concerns himself with the taste of his pupil, that 
he may know its tendencies and deficiencies, and di- 
rect, elevate, and purify it. He concerns himself 
with the soul, the immortal, spiritual nature of his 
pupil, that he may be fitted for a life of happy .and 
holy usefulness in this world and in that which is to 
come. He concerns himself with all the habits of 



THE ED UCA TOR. 3 1 3 

his pupil, that these, tiie outgrowth of his native 
disposition, his surroundings, and his practices, may 
be radically changed if bad, and confirmed and ma- 
'tured if good. The educator, as a potter, sees the 
boy before him in a sense as a piece of plastic clay, 
which he is to make or mar, to fashion into an Apol- 
lo Belvidere, into a Gladstone in embryo ; or else is 
to dismiss as a distortion, a caricature of manhood, 
a possible Mephistopheles, a curse to himself and to 
society. It is a high and holy work that engages 
the brain and heart of the educator. He is God's 
truest vicegerent, vicar upon the earth, and needs, 
therefore, to be most like God in wisdom, love, and 
patient power. There are many teachers in the 
school-room ; there are but few educators. 

Every good man is more or less an educator. In 
proportion as he, consciously or unconsciously, in- 
fluences and elevates the character of others, he is 
engaged in the divine work of education. Every 
minister of the gospel who realizes the spirit of his 
calling is directly and distinctively an educator. 
This is his great mission with reference to our fallen 
race. He is God's chosen instrument, first to change 
the direction of men's lives, and then to cultivate 
them for the pure and exalted society of heaven. 
The mother is the chief educator of the race. To 
her primarily this sacred work is intrusted. The 
child is linked to her by the chain of its helplessness, 
during its earliest, most impressible days. Then it 
is that, in nine cases out of ten, it receives its moral 
impulse for time and for eternity. After it leaves 
her side it rarely changes the general direction oi its 
character. It becomes an angel or a devil, as she 



314 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

has started it upon the path of immortality. She 
hands the youthful spirit over to the teacher, and for 
ten years he chares with the parents the chief respon- 
sibility for the character of the child. If it is already' 
upon the right road, the teacher is to keep it there, 
and to aid it to make true and rapid progress in all 
the elements of a strong and virtuous life. If its 
moral bearings are downward, if it has already be- 
gun the career of ruin, he is to arrest it, to turn it 
about, to show it the better path, to train it for the 
skies. If he does so he is an educator; if he makes 
no effort to do so, the blood of that soul will be 
found upon his skirts. 

Mr. Kemper was a teacher, and a very efficient one. 
He was remarkably apt and successful as an instruc- 
tor; and no boy, however ignorant he may have been 
w^hen he entered the school at Boonville, ever left 
without a material addition to his stock of valuable 
information. But Mr. Kemper was more than a 
teacher — he was an educator. He looked all over 
and all through a boy, and from the very first day 
it was his aim to make of that boy all that it was 
possible for him to become, physically, mentally, and 
morally. If he failed, as he sometimes did, it was 
due to one or both of two causes, beyond his power 
to prevent. Either the boy was already hopelessly 
ruined, or else the parents failed to sustain the dis- 
cipline of the school, or both causes conspired to 
thwart the educator's best efforts. 

There was emblazoned upon the shield, " Educa- 
tion, not Teaching, our Life-work." These two 
facts made Mr. Kemper what he was. He was an 
educator, and education was his life-work. There 



THE EDUCATOR. 



*3i5 



is surely nothing stranger in the history of our civili- 
zation than the false estimate which is put upon the 
work of the school-room. How many men are there 
in Missouri to-day, who, at some period of their 
lives, have undertaken to teach? Of the educated 
classes, it is doubtless true that a fair majority have 
done so. How many of these taught five years ? 
How many ten ? How many of the teachers in the 
State to-day have taught ten years ? There are more 
than ten thousand who are now teaching in this 
broad commonwealth ; are there two hundred of 
them who have seen a decade's service in the school- 
house? The report of Dr. Shannon, ex-State Super- 
intendent of Schools for Missouri, shows that in the 
year 1882 there were 10,607 teachers in this State em- 
ployed in the public schools, besides those who 
taught in private schools, the State University, and 
the normal schools. Again, how many of the ten 
thousand now teaching expect to remain at their 
post for ten years ? How many expect to make it 
their life-work ? 

These are serious questions, and the answers show 
not only that there is, in the outside general com- 
munity, an almost universal apathy as to the bearing 
of these facts, but also that, among teachers them- 
selves, it is the exception to find one who intends to 
make teaching a profession, and to devote his life to 
its assiduous cultivation. Misses enter the school- 
room and undertake to teach until they marry. Men 
do so, as a temporary makeshift, when they have 
nothing else to do, or as a means to help them to some 
other and permanent profession. My countrymen, 
intelligent parents that love your children, it is a 



3i6, THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

shame that this is true. You do not intrust a suit, 
involving a thousand dollars, to a man who is not a 
professional lawyer. You do not call in, to treat 
your family when sick, a man who practises medi- 
cine merely as a stepping-stone to something better. 
Wh)', then, will you intrust the education of your 
children, the most high and solemn charge that any 
man can receive, to 

"Skulls that cannot teach and will not learn ;" 

to men and women who despise the business, and 
intend to quit it as soon as possible ? 

Parents, you are to blame for this sad state of 
affairs in our schools. Until teaching is made re- 
spectable, there will be no improvement. Several 
things must be changed before teaching becomes a 
respectable profession. Our common schools must 
be continued forty weeks in the year. The same 
teacher must be retained for a series of years ; if 
possible, for life. But, above all, the teacher must 
be paid a respectable salary. The report of the 
State Superintendent of Schools for the year 1882 
shows that the average annual salary of the public 
school teachers of Missouri was but a trifle over two 
hundred dollars — about forty dollars a month for 
five months' service. Men and women, who respect 
themselves and who are qualified to educate your 
children, will not continue to teach for a miserable 
pittance of forty dollars a month for five months in 
the year. As soon as w^e make up our minds that 
we will respect the teacher as we do the lawyer 
and the doctor, and allow him the same compensa- 
tion, then we shall have men who will make it their 



THE EDUCATOR. 317 

profession, and who will be able to educate our 
children. Until then it will be as it is now. 

Mr. Kemper believed that education was a profes- 
sion, like the ministry, law, m.edicine, and statesman- 
ship, and he devoted his life to it. In his view it 
required the entire consecration of the best powers 
of the strongest man for a lifetime to achieve success 
in it. He considered himself an apprentice for the 
first twenty-five years of his consecration to the 
work. Only a devoted man could become a master- 
workman, even at the close of that long novitiate. 
He had a contempt for teachers who despised their 
profession, who rushed in where an angel might fear 
to tread. For over forty years he knew but one 
thing. In winter and summer, by day and by night, 
in sickness and health, in poverty and plenty, he 
stood at his post, devoting body, mind, soul, prop- 
erty, time, life itself to the divine work of education. 
One fact will show the earnest spirit of his conse- 
cration. For many years he pursued his work, if 
not in comparative poverty, at least with no adequate 
remuneration for his services. Think of it! He 
leaves a memorandum behind him, showing that he 
and James and Tyre Harris taught an entire school 
year for some twelve hundred dollars ! Until the 
death of his father gave him a small patrimony, he 
was unable to undertake the support of a family, and 
lived the life of a celibate. Nothing less than a 
martyr's spirit carried him through those long years 
of patient, unrequited toil. But he stood true to 
his post, and would have died there in obscure pen- 
ury rather than forsake it, for education was meant 
by him from the beginning to be his life-work. 



3i8 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

We revert here to another important fact in his 
work as an educator. At one time, if we are not mis- 
taken, he allowed his name to be used by his friends 
in connection with a professorship in the University 
of Virginia, and not long after accepted a chair in 
Westminster College. It is our belief that he after- 
ward found that these were mistakes ; that his proper 
position was at the head of an academy. Such was 
his true sphere, because the real ivork of education is 
best done in the family boarding-school This was his 
matured conviction, and in it he was surely right. 
As the head of the Kemper Family School he was 
exactly where he ought to be. It was the ideal 
place for an educator. He was in his own property, 
untrammeled by trustees, with fifty boys under his 
absolute control for seven days and seven nights out 
of every week. Under these circnmstances, as he 
said, education was reduced to the certainty of law. 

Many intelligent people have never seen this, and 
pass by such a school to send their boys to the col- 
lege or the university. It is the judgment of the 
writer that probably three fourths of the lads who 
are at our colleges ought to be at some good acad- 
emy. The college is the place for teaching, but not 
for education. If a young man has studious habits 
and a fair mind, he can and wnll become a good ele- 
mentary scholar by his four years' attendance at the 
university. If, however, he goes there uneducated, 
wnth body, mind, and soul out of repair, in all hu- 
man probability he will return in the same or a 
worse condition. The professors in a college are in 
a position to teach, but not to educate their students. 
Education necessarily involves close, intimate asso- 



THE EDUCATOR. 319 

elation between the teacher and his pupil. The 
teacher must know all about his pupil, must have 
unlimited control of him, must bring his personal 
influence to bear directly upon him, or else he cannot 
educate him. These are impracticable in the col- 
lege. 

• They are equally so in our crowded public schools. 
People wonder that these graduate girls and boys 
who lead a life of crime. It is said that the forth- 
coming census report for 1880 will reveal^, to some, 
the astounding fact, that the criminal and helpless 
classes abound in proportion to the intelligence of 
the several States. It is not surprising, however, to 
those who have been looking beneath the surface, 
and who know that the law of cause and effect pre- 
vails in the world of morals as it does in the world of 
matter. We have thousands of teachers all over 
this country, and the school-house dots almost every 
hill. We have, however, but few educators, and 
fewer schools where an educator has any opportunity 
to do his work. Our public schools, especially in 
the cities, bring the children together in large masses, 
in order that they may be taught cheaply at whole- 
sale. They are taught many things that are found 
in books. They become familiar with history, tlie 
sciences, mathematics, and the languages. But what 
does the teacher know of their habits ? In many 
cases, what does it concern him ? The result is a 
generation of sharpened intellects and untrained 
affections and desires ; of overfed brains who propose 
to live by their wits. 

What we need in this good land of ours is a 
Kemper Family School in every county and city ward, 



320 THE LIFE OF PROF, KEMPER. 

presided over by Christian men, whose life-work it is 
to educate the fifty boys who are annually committed 
to their absolute control. These would constitute, in 
the aggregate, a body of trained men, who would 
prove the advance guard in the nation's march toward 
a higher and a purer civilization. 

The Kemper Family School, as perfected by its 
founder, was and is the model school for education 
in Missouri. It is the result of his life-work. In 
such a school the personal qualities of the ruling 
spirit are of unspeakable importance. He is its life 
and soul. He is not only the trainer, but is also the 
model of those fifty immortal spirits. As he is, he 
will endeavor to make them. As he is, they are al- 
m.ost sure in kind, if not in degree, to become. 
What should such a man be } Certainly a model 
man — a healthy man, an intelligent man, a culti- 
vated man, a Christian man. Mr. Kemper realized 
all this. He felt the responsibility of his position. 
He knew that he was the cynosure of those immortal 
eyes ; that his character would be impressed upon 
them ; that those boys would probably bear his image 
throughout eternity. Knowing and feeling this, he 
strove to be what he tried to make them be, a per- 
fect man, a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE MAKER OF MEN. 

" 'The man who rules his spirit,' saith the Voice 
Which cannot err, ' is greater than the man 
Who takes a city.' Hence it surely follows, 
If each might have dominion of himself, 
And each would govern wisely, and thus show 
Truth, courage, knowledge, power, benevolence, 
All the princely soul in private virtiies — 
Then each would be a prince, a hero — greater — 
He will be man in likeness of his Maker !" 

Mrs. Hale. 

The preceding chapter has revealed to us the ideal 
which Mr. Kemper had before him as a scholar, 
teacher, and professional educator. That he did not 
fully realize his own ideal is only saying what is true 
of every man of lofty spirit. We may go further and 
affirm that, in this world of imperfection, its complete 
realization is a manifest impossibility, for the simple 
reason that it demanded perfection. This throws no 
discredit upon his good, sound judgment. The 
Master has said, "Be ye perfect," and no impeach- 
ment of His infinite wisdom can be made, for no moral 
being can properly aim at less than the perfection of 
his own character, however far he may come short of 
the accomplishment. 
15 



32 2 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

That he was conscious of his own failures we could 
show, if necessary, by frequent quotations from his 
diaries, which are almost plaintive in the revelations 
which they make of his sense of self-humiliation. 
Despite his heroic efforts, he could not reach the 
cloudless summit of the mountain, and at times he 
felt like throwing himself down upon the ground in 
exhausted desperation. It was a heavy burden that 
he bore. Not alone the care of those fifty boys, for 
soul, mind, and body, morning, noon, and night, 
Saturday, Sunday, Monday ; but it was also the 
slanders of his enemies, the ignorant fault-finding of 
the parents, the lack of proper appreciation by his 
friends, and the isolation of a pioneer in an unoccu- 
pied and unvisited country. There was no one trav- 
eling with him to the top of that mountain ; though 
there were^ a few who had caught his spirit and 
were following him near the base. " Grand, gloomy, 
and peculiar, he sat upon his throne, a sceptred 
hermit, wrapt in the solitude of his own originality." 

In this chapter we shall set forth more in detail 
some of his peculiarities as an educator, or maker of 
men. We shall first present a few points having 
reference to himself^as fitting him for his mission. 

We shall begin with that which he considered 
the foundation, the basis of them all. He was a 
Christian educator. We do not speak here of his 
general character as a disciple of Jesus, but simply of 
it as connected with his professional work. We shall 
here quote an extract, which he made from the writ- 
ings of a fellow-laborer, and whose sentiments he 
adopted as his own : — 

'' Whatever success I may have had as a teacher, I 



THE MAKER OF MEN. 323 

attribute it wholly to the grace of God. If I could 
not pray, I would not teach. The responsibility is 
too great. I often wonder at my rashness in taking 
upon myself so important a trust, and daily plead 
most earnestly for the fruit of the Spirit — meekness, 
gentleness, love. The spirit of a teacher is very apt 
to be imbibed by the pupils. 'Tis not a sufficient 
reward to have the approval of the parents of pupils, 
though this is gratifying. So to teach them that they 
may become useful members of society, be happy 
themselves, make others happy around them ; that 
they may love God and their neighbors, ' do unto 
others as they would others should do unto them,' 
is what I aim at in all my instructions." 

Mr. Kemper sought to be an earnest, intelligent, 
useful, cheerful Christian, not only for his own sake, 
but also because of the immortal souls intrusted to 
his care, and whom he must mould for time and for 
eternity. No intelligent pupil could fail to see that 
he made Christianity the basis of his belief, his in- 
struction, and his discipline. There are texts of Script- 
ure which he might have put in the shape of motto- 
cards upon the walls of the school-room. This was 
unnecessary, and would have been far less efficient 
than his own frequent and most pointed quotation of 
them. These passages have rung in the ears of some 
of us for more than thirty years, and have often 
proved a warning and a stimulus. 

Another marked feature in his effort to fit himself 
for the culture and direction of his pupils was his 
earnest desire and endeavor to secure a perfect control 
of himself. If he had a hobby, so far as his own pro- 
fessional fitness was concerned, it was this. His jour- 



324 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

nals are, in a sense, full of it. There was no saying 
of Solomon which he seemed to love so well to quote 
as, " He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that 
taketh a city." Memory seems to say to us that we 
have heard him repeat it a score of times. Lessing 
makes one of his characters in " Minna von Barn- 
helm" say, " Man spricht selten von der Tugend die 
man hat ; aber desto ofter von der die uns fehlt" — 
" We seldom speak of the virtue which we have ; but the 
oftener of that which ive lack. " This may partly explai n 
Mr. Kemper's admiration of self-control. We know 
that, in his private writings, he sometimes bemoans 
his want of this virtue. If we are not mistaken, this 
is often true of men of positive character. The un- 
ruly passion is different in different men. With Mr. 
Kemper there was a special desire and effort to main- 
tain a mastery of his temper. We believe it to be a 
universal fact, that all really great characters are 
endovvcd with this passion to an eminent degree. 
Indeed it is as the fire to the engine, the source of the 
power of the mighty motor. Washington is an ex- 
ample. It is necessary, however, that it be held in 
strict obedience to the intelligence directing it to the 
attainment of high moral ends. This was the view 
which he took. 

Beyond the temptation growing out of any native 
tendencies, there was that which proceeded from his 
position as the head of the school government. The 
discipline of the family and of the school are, and 
ought to be, autocratic. The school is neither a 
democracy nor an aristocracy. It is, and must be, 
an absolute monarchy. The educator, of necessity, is 



THE MAKER OF MEN. 325 

the unlimited master of his pupils. This fact is a 
strong temptation to an imperious temper. 

But these temptations, so far from justifying des- 
potism in the autocrat of the school, make ii neces- 
sary that he should conscientiously and rigidly guard 
himself against it. As he is the embodiment of law, 
and discharges all the functions of government, 
legislative, judicial, and executive, it is indispensable 
that he should also be the impersonation of wise, 
calm, impartial justice. A teacher who has no con- 
trol of himself, and plays the passionate tyrant in his 
management of his pupils, is unfit for his position, 
and should voluntarily abdicate, or be forced to resign 
authority which he knows not how to exercise. All 
this Mr. Kemper well knew, and it made him con- 
scientiously earnest in his desire and endeavor to 
obtain a complete mastery over himself. He says, 
more than once in his journal, that he would as soon 
be guilty of a crime as of doing injustice to the 
meanest of his pupils. As an example to his boys, 
and as necessary to his wise and efficient administra- 
tion of discipline, he felt that he must learn to govern 
himself. That he did it, to an eminent degree, will 
be the testimony of every law-abiding pupil whom he 
was called upon to educate. 

There is only one other point, so far as his personal 
characteristics are concerned, to which we will allude. 
It is his attention to little things. The miscroscope 
reveals the wisdom of God even more wonderfully 
than does the telescope. The mind is, indeed, over- 
whelmed with the sublimity of the conception of 
infinite power, as it manifests itself in moons, planets, 
comets and suns — the stellar families of the firma- 



326 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

ment ; these families, myriads in number, and yet 
the nearest neighbors among them millions of miles 
distant from each other ! But these stars, whether 
central suns or planetary satellites, are all composed 
of minute particles, every atom of which reveals the 
wisdom and omnipotence of their Creator. It is the 
atom before which the proud intellect of man stands 
baffled in conscious impotence. He can see how 
these atoms aggregate into elements, and elements 
combine into manifold material forms, and material 
forms make a world, and worlds make a solar 
system, and solar systems make a universe. But 
that atom, what is it } Whence came it .? The in- 
teger of material being, the depository of ma- 
terial force, unseen by human eye, unmeasured by 
human compass, it is the final, unimpeached, unim- 
peachable witness to testify to the being, wisdom, 
power of the eternal Mind, who brought it forth by 
creative energy from the depths of nothingness ! Give 
finite power and wisdom atoms, and it can make ele- 
ments ; from elements it can make compounds ; from 
compounds it can make worlds ; from worlds it can 
make a universe. But what finite mind can make an 
atom ? It is there we find God. 

It is thus the sublimity of wisdom to attend to little 
things. Right here Mr. Kemper separated himself 
from the herd of teachers. Hundreds and thousands 
of them can teach Latin and Greek, and mathematics, 
and the sciences. Few there are who will attend to 
the Horatian metres, to the vivid elucidation of the 
extraction of the cube root, to tlie proper sounding 
of the small words of an English sentence, to the 
accurate pronunciation of every proper name, to the 



THE MAKER OF MEN. 327 

manner in which a boy articulates his answers, to the 
condition in which the floor, and the desks, and the 
walls of the school-room are kept. We know that 
there is a tithing of mint and a neglecting of the 
weightier matters of the law. -We know that a man 
maybe a mere martinet, punctilious about trifles and 
careless about great principles. The true man is he 
who does what Christ enjoins : " These ye ought 
to have done, and not to leave the other undone.'" Mr. 
Kemper did not neglect the weightier matters ; and 
yet there was no nicety of scholarship or of deport- 
ment which seemed to escape his notice. Let one 
illustration, of many that might be given, suffice. 
He taught his pupils punctuation, not only in its 
general principles, but in its details. For example, 
there is one right way to point the date at the head 
of a letter. Every other way is inaccurate and wrong. 
He told us exactly how to do it. Thirty-five years 
have rolled away since we heard him teach it, but 
here it is, just as he gave it to us: 

BooNviLLE, Mo., Jan. i, 1848, 
Six stops, no more, no less, in the full and partly 
abbreviated date, as here written. In every de- 
partment of education he looked after the pennies 
which make the pounds. 

His attention to minutiae introduces us to some 
interesting peculiarities of his professional work. 

The first of these ideas to which he gave special 
prominence as a teacher, was his practice of requir- 
ing frequent reviews of all the studies pursued. 
During the ten years while it was the writer s privi- 
lege to enjoy his instruction, it was his custom to 



328 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

devote every Friday to a review of the work of the 
week. He found reason to modify this plan in his 
later experience. The change was doubtless a wise 
one, as there are some branches, and some portions 
of all studies, which require more speedy and more 
frequent reviews than do others. The idea, however, 
is the same. It is the wise teacher who not only 
adopts it, but also knows how to make the most 
judicious use of it. It is a necessity for all successful 
tuition, especially of immature minds. The memory 
has its laws, in accordance with which it does efficient 
work. Among these, as laid down by Brown, is 
the simple subjective law of the frequency of repeti- 
tion. This lies at the foundation of mental as well 
as of muscular habit. The first point is the clear 
vision of the truth, when it is originally given to the 
mind of the child. When that is gained, the same 
truth must be brought before him again and again, 
until he becomes familiar with it as an old acquaint- 
ance. While older pupils, with cultured and in- 
quisitive minds, may be expected to do this for them- 
selves, the younger ones need the personal care of 
the teacher and the stimulus of actual recitation to 
secure it. No experienced teacher doubts that an 
average class, which is exercised in frequent reviews 
of a subject, will, at the end of the year, know at 
least twenty-five per cent more of that study than a 
similar class which has covered the same ground 
without this exercise. 

The greatest peculiarity of Mr. Kemper as a 
teacher was what he called the General Exercise. 
This requires explanation to all who were neither his 
pupils nor observant patrons. It was simply this : he 



THE MAKER OF MEN. 329 

devoted fifteen minutes every day to a lecture, given 
to the entire school on some interesting- topic of in- 
formation. This he called the General Exercise. 
We knov^ from his journal that he prepared himself 
carefully for it. He made out, during the vacation, 
a list of these topics, upon which he proposed to talk 
during the coming session, and made himself familiar 
with them. Each Saturday he would arrange the 
subjects to be presented the succeeding week. 
Every night or morning he would prepare himself 
for the next Exercise, so as to have all the facts con- 
cerning it fresh and clear before his mind. In this 
way he secured accuracy and the condensation of the 
greatest possible amount of information within the 
limit of a quarter of an hour's talk. The amount of 
instruction which he was able to give in these few 
minutes was in the aggregate very great, and of such 
a character as many of his pupils w^ould not get from 
their text-books. 

We have before us one of the lists which he made 
of these General Exercise Topics. There are over 
two hundred of them ; enough to occupy him for 
several years, as many of them would require a week 
for their presentation. We shall here insert a few 
of them, taking them from the beginning as they 
occur : — 

" TOPICS FOR GENERAL EXERCISE. 

" I. History from image of Nebuchadnezzar. 

" 2. How a fly walks on the ceiling. 

'' 3. Nature of fog, dew, rain, hail, snow, winds, 
storms, thunder, liglitning, meteors, meteoric stones, 
water. 

•5* 



330 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

''4. Names of months and days of week, with the 
number of days in each month. 

"5. Seasons. Day and night. Sun nearest in 
winter, but no more heat. 

"6. Weather, climates, isothermal lines. 

" 7. Why a mosquito bite swells. 

"8. Why the skin breaks out in hot weather. 

" 9. How and why we perspire. 

" 10. Circumference of earth by N. P. star. 

"11. Latitude and longitude. 

" 12. Any experiments in chemistry from Dalton's 
300. 

" 13. Ancient and modern modes of reasoning. 
Bacon's inductive method. 

" 14. Distance of sun and moon by parallax. 

" 15. What is known of distances of fixed stars by 
annual parallax, and what of distances of nebulas by 
proportionate telescopic effects." 

These will serve as illustrations, Most of these 
concern the natural sciences, but as we proceed we 
find that almost the entire field of human knowledge 
is covered by them. Those who were his pupils 
doubtless recall this as one of the most valued feat- 
ures in the school life at Boonville. The amount 
of information thus given and received was great. 
So far as important, practical ideas are concerned, it 
was probably equal to that which many received 
from the study of their text-books. 

Another peculiar feature in Mr. Kemper's man- 
agement of the school was the frequeitcy of recesses. 
The plan of the " old field" schools was to begin at 
sunrise and to dismiss at sunset, with little or no 
recreation in the mean while. Some now think that 



THE MAKER OF MEN. 331 

those were the good old days, and that their customs 
should be restored. Leaving altogether out of view 
the weary irksomeness of such protracted and unre- 
lieved sessions, they were altogether inexpedient, 
for the reason that more is accomplished in the 
shorter hours of the new system. Mr. Kemper had 
the reputation of being a very strict teacher, and 
such he undoubtedly was. There was a determined 
earnestness about him in the school-room which 
would not brook disobedience or idleness. It will 
therefore in this connection be a surprise to many 
persons to learn that he probably allotted more 
time to recreation than did any other teacher in Mis- 
souri. It was his custom to give the entire school 
an intermission of eight minutes every hour. There 
were two recesses, therefore, in the forenoon, and 
two in the afternoon. He divided each hour into 
four quarters, having the bell rung at the end of 
every quarter. In connection with this arrangement 
every pupil was allowed to protract one of his fore- 
noon and one of his afternoon recesses, so as to in- 
clude the first quarter of the next hour. Taking 
them altogether, these aggregated fifty-four minutes 
during the day, or nearly one hour out of the six. 
At the regular recesses, every boy who was not un- 
der discipline was expected to go out upon the play- 
ground and fill his lungs with fresh air. As result- 
ing from this, no pupil became " sicklied o'er with 
the pale cast of thought;" the body was kept in vig- 
orous condition, the brain preserved its clearness, 
and there was no excuse for idleness during the 
time allotted to study. Every pupil was required to 
give his earnest and undivided attention to the les- 



332 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

son before him. By this means the utmost possible 
amount of information was gleaned by the student 
from his book, and, what was still more important, 
there was induced a habit of concentration of mind 
which proved invaluable to him in after life. We 
know a Kemper boy whose experience illustrates 
this. When he went to college he roomed next to a 
student who was devoted to the violin. Early and 
late, in season and out of season, that instrument 
was kept at work. It was an intolerable nuisance to 
nearly all in the building who wished to study. It 
did not disturb the Kemper boy. He had learned to 
fix his thoughts on the book before him. We have seen 
him since, unmoved and apparently unconcerned, 
while writing or grappling with knotty questions, or 
reading a book requiring thought, with his own and 
other children making merry all around him. He 
owes this largely to Mr. Kemper's frequent recesses, 
which enabled him, when a lad, to form this habit 
of fixed attention. 

Mr. Kemper's rule was absolute, that nothing but 
study was to be allowed in study time. This rule did 
not mean that the pupil should keep his eye fixed 
upon the book, as though he were petrified into a 
statue. The teacher's practised eye could readily 
detect when this attention was merely mechanical 
and bodily. Such compliance with the letter, to the 
neglect of the spirit, was not tolerated. It was worse 
than a more open violation of the rule, For it added 
to idleness, and loss of time, and neglect of improve- 
ment, that which is worse than them all — hypocrisy. 
If such an evasion of a wise law had been allowed, 
Mr. Kemper could have made but a poor claim to be 



THE MAKER OF MEN. 333 

considered an educator. There is no trait of char- 
acter more radically vicious than hypocrisy. Hon- 
esty, truthfulness, frankness — this is the basis of 
true manhood. A heart that is without it is hollow, 
rotten to the very core. Nothing but study in study 
time meant a whole-souled devotion to the subject 
treated of in the book before the eye of the pupil. 
'' The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." 

" There lies no desert in the land of life ; 

For e'en that tract which barrenest doth seem, 

Labored of thee in faith and hope, shall teem 

With heavenly harvests and rich gatherings'rife." 

Perfect attention to the matter in hand suggests 
another principle in his management of the school. 
He required that every lesson should hQ perfectly learned. 
This is apparently a harsh regulation. Yet it is not. 
It was prompted by a wise regard for the best inter- 
ests of his pupils. It was essential to the success 
of his work as a teacher, and was no less a part of his 
effort to secure a true education. It was one of his 
maxims, that there is no knowledge which, so far as 
it goes, is not perfect knowledge. Everything else 
is mist, confusion, conjecture, uncertain guessing. 
If a fact or truth is known, it is known ; if it is'not 
known, it is simply not known. It was one of his 
favorite aphorisms, in addressing his pupils, " If you 
know a thing, you know it as well as anybody knows 
it." He was careful to assign such lessons as were 
well within the reach of the industrious boy of aver- 
age capacity. Short lessons perfectly known were 
better, he thought, than long ones superficially 
scanned. Depth, not breadth, quality not quantity, 
was his judgment. He would not hear an imper- 



334 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

feet recitation. If there were reasons that justified it, 
the same portion vv^ould be assigned for the next day. 
Ordinarily the delinquent pupil was required to make 
up the deficiency in the hours set apart for recre- 
ation. It must be perfectly recited before release 
was given. 

Not only for the knowledge thus acquired, but 
even more for its influence on the character of the 
pupil, was this a wholesome rule. The world is full 
of abortions. The professions and the trades alike 
show them. The man who makes a perfect shoe, 
and the lawyer who prepares his pleadings wuth ar- 
tistic accuracy, are the exceptional few. They are 
the elite of their class. Every shoemaker and every 
lawyer ought, because he may do this. It is not 
because he cannot, it is because he will not. He 
was never drilled to accuracy. He was never made 
to do a thing seven times until he did it exactly 
right. His habits were so formed when he was a 
boy; so formed at home, so formed at school. With 
him the rule is, '' Well enough is good enough." 
As a result, he is a botch, a failure — at best, a me- 
diocre. If he had been drilled by his teacher to learn 
his lessons perfectly, as a matter of principle, as an 
element of his chai-acter, his habits would have been 
so moulded, and he would have carried them into 
the duties of his mature life. Every pupil of Mr. 
Kemper has reason to thank him that he was held to 
the rule of perfect accuracy. In knowledge and in 
character, the mass of men are like the old woman 
who could always " tell" good " bluein','' it would 
either sink or swim, she could not tell which. 

One of the best points in Mr. Kemper's character 



THE MAKER OF MEN. 335 

as a teacher is brought out in the following letter. 
It is to his niece, Miss Jasper Bocock, in the prospect 
of her leaving Virginia to make her home with him : 

" BooNViLLE, Mo., Jan. 9, 1878. 

"Jasper — My Dear Child: Your liule note pleases me 
much. Every point in it pleases me. Your apprehension lest 
you would not altogether suit, or be suited, shows caution and 
prudence. • • ' 

"Your fears are like those of Bunyan's Pilgrim. You will find 
the lions chained. A woman of real character, so far from being 
out of place in a boy's school, is the ' bright particular star' in 
the firmament. If you want to study for some years, we can at 
least give you time to study, self-support, and a masculine drill 
that girls need, and do not often get at their schools. We don't 
promise much salary till a girl is thoroughly fitted to earn it, here 
or elsewhere. We can use all your German, and probably 
French. You would do well to learn to speak both fluently. 
. . . Now I think you are the farthest possible from a super- 
numerary. Do as I tell you, without fear, and you can work 
yourself up to be a necessity to us, no less than the joy of our 
household. Will you do it ? 

"The only thing you and your mother will miss is the charm 
of old Virginia society. We are a mixed population, and every 
one must have resources in himself. Can you bear the transi- 
tion ? Compared with Virginia, we are new. But in many 
things we are ahead of her. I have lost all the Virginian's clan- 
nishness, and think it a great deal better to love one's fellow- 
men than it is to love the Virginians. 

" If you come, we will make geometry your especial pleasure, 
notwithstanding your present aversion. Bocock and Kemper 
blood ought to do anything. 

"Another paradox: we could soon, after the first year, have 
you teaching our senior class. But it would take several years 
before we would trust you to teach the beginners. 

"Haven't you a mission? Everybody has a mission that 
has two hands to work, or nerves to suffer pain. ' They also 
serve who only stand and wait.' Whether working, suffering, or 
waiting, if we do it well, there is a glory, and character, and a 



S3^ THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

reward, in comparison with which the questions of wealth and 
poverty, married or single life, popularity or persecution, are 
baubles. 

" Love to Willis and your mother. Write me a letter, pouring 
out your heart. Your loving uncle, 

-^'F. T. Kemper." 

We refer, of course, to his paradox, that he would 
intrust the care of his senior class to his fliece years 
before he could his beginners. Popular opinion, as 
tested bj general custom, is the reverse of this. The 
fundamental work of starting children up the hill of 
knowledge and of forming their first habits, is usual- 
ly given to inexperienced, brainless girls, or to equal- 
ly brainless and ignorant old women. There never 
was a graver or a sadder mistake. The best mind in 
a faculty should be put in charge of the preparatorv 
classes. There is no portion of a child's school life 
so important as its first five years. Those well-spent, 
success is assured. Those wasted, or, as is usual, 
worse than wasted, all future efforts are compara- 
tively futile. In nothing was Mr. Kemper wiser than 
in the special care which he gave to the primary 
classes. Some of our best schools give the same or 
higher wages to the teachers of the preparatory 
studies. 

One of the most marked peculiarities of Mr. 
Kemper's management of the school we have had 
occasion to notice in its early history. It was his 
adoption of the system of the Quaker Lancaster, in 
the free use of piLpil monitors to assist him in the 
work of the school-room. He employed them as 
subordinate teachers. In the first days of the school 
at Boonville this was a necessity. The revenues did 



THE MAKER OF MEN. 337 

not justify the employment of paid assistants. It 
was not Mr, Kemper's conviction that sucli teachers 
were equal, much less superior, to those whom he 
might have chosen as salaried assistants. This is 
manifest from the fact that when the income of the 
school justified it, as it did in its later history, he dis- 
carded the plan of pupil teachers, and used the other 
system. The year he died the total enrollment of 
pupils was sixty-two, and yet five teachers were em- 
ployed besides himself to give them instruction. 
The enrollment of 1846-47 was seventy-five, and he 
had no assistance except from his pupils. It is a 
benefit to the pupils who are thus employed as 
subordinate teachers, but of course they are not 
equal to those who make teaching their regular 
business. Mr. Kemper, however, to the very last, 
employed his own former pupils as his regular 
teachers. During the more than forty years of 
his professional life, he did not have half a dozen 
teachers who had not been his own pupils. No fact 
of his administration showed greater wisdom than 
this. 

But the monitor system was used by Mr. Kemper 
quite extensively in other parts of school work be- 
sides teaching. One rang the bell at the end of each 
quarter of an hour. One inspected the desks daily, 
to see that they were kept clean and in order. One 
attended to the ventilation of the room during the 
recesses. One, as sheriff, had charge of those who 
were "kept in" during recess. One inspected the 
schedules, to see that each boy had one in good con- 
dition, and that he was complying with it. One at- 
tended to the condition of the fires ; another to bring 



S3^ T/I£ LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

ing water, which, at a regular time, was distributed. 
One had general charge of the cleanliness of the 
room, floor, desks, benches, walls. 

This system will commend itself to the practical 
wisdom of every teacher. It saves the principal a 
great deal of care, worry, and time. By confiding 
these minor matters to chosen pupils, their self-re- 
spect is increased. It was not always the best who 
were selected for these offices. They were sometimes 
used as a moral stimulus to a boy, and his moral 
character was strengthened and improved thereby. 
The duties were more efficiently discharged than 
they could have been by the principal, in the midst 
of his many responsibilities. 

Allusion was made above to a monitor, who was 
inspector of schedules. This suggests another distinc- 
tive feature of the school. Every pupil, from the 
youngest to the oldest, was required to have a pro- 
gramme of his daily duties. As has been said, the 
regular school hours were divided into quarters, 
which were announced by the tapping of the bell. 
For each of these divisions a regular duty was as- 
signed to each pupil. These were written down 
upon his schedule, and he was required to conform 
his daily habits strictly to this programme. This was 
true not only of his recitations, but also of the divi- 
sions allotted to study. That is, one or more divi- 
sions were assigned to the study of spelling ; these 
and no others must be appropriated to this work. 
So of every other study. 

There are several advantages connected with this 

arrangement. It saves all confusion of mind on the 

_part of the student as to what he must do next. It 



THE MAKER OF MEN. 339 

enables the principal to see at a glance whether he 
has made a wise distribution of his time. Their 
chief benefit, however, was in their educational in- 
fluence upon the character of the boy ; the plan led 
him to be methodical in his habits. 

This leads us to refer to another prominent feature 
in Mr. Kemper's administration, of which the pre- 
ceding is an illustration. He was thoroughly sys- 
tematic himself, and required his pupils to be so. 
This principle was extended to everything. There 
was a certain way that a boy must sit at his desk, 
not as a motionless statue, but with head erect and 
front face. There was a certain way that he must 
move across the room, quickly and quietly. There 
was a certain way that he must stand at recitation, 
erect, without support, and toeing the mark. There 
was a certain way that he must hold the book while 
reading; and there was a certain finger and part of 
the finger that he must use in pointing to his words. 
Everything was orderly and systematic. The very 
tones of his voice were controlled. He must have 
nothing in his mouth or before his mouth, and he 
must speak promptly and distinctly. Everything 
must be kept perfectly neat. There must be no mark- 
ing of the desks, benches, walls ; there must be no 
littering of the floor by scraps of paper or by spitting. 
As the president of a school for girls, the writer is 
ashamed to say that he has never been able to keep 
his study halls and recitation rooms as neat as were 
those of the Male Collegiate Institute. 

Some may think that all this was overnice and 
particular. Let such consider that Mr. Kemper was 
an e-ilucator, a maker of men, and no habit which 



340 THE LIFE OF PROF, KEMPER. 

contributed to perfection of character was to be de- 
spised by him. None of these niceties consumed 
unnecessary time or interfered with study, while they 
all contributed to the pupil's sense of self-respect, 
and laid the foundation for system and neatness in 
subsequent life. It is interesting to observe the in- 
fluence of this early discipline. Take one trivial il- 
lustration. We were taught not to deface the school 
property. Among other things, he would say : 
"Suppose I were visiting you, and, sitting in your 
parlor, I should take my knife and scratch the 
chairs and deface the piano, what would you think 
of me ?" To this day, though often in the midst of 
whittlers on the street, the writer has never been able 
to bring himself to cut an empty dry-goods box. It 
is Mr. Kemper's work. No boy who formed those 
habits then has ever regretted them since. 

But one more fact, and we are through with this 
poor sketch of him as an educator. He assigned his 
pupils only thi-ee studies at a time. This he would have 
preferred as a teacher, this he was forced to do as an 
educator. Most of our schools are conducted on the 
theory of tuition — that the one great object is to 
pack the mind as a storehouse with the treasures of 
knowledge. As a consequence, every possible branch 
is put into the curriculum, and the poor boy is forced 
to cram it into his cranium. Take up the catalogues 
of our popular schools, and you will find that each 
class is expected to carry some six or eight studies at 
a time. This we suppose is done; but it is our judg- 
ment that more real knowledge would be obtained 
during the four years' course, were only half the 
number of branches pursued at a time.- 



THE MAKER OF MEN. 341 

However this may be, we have no doubt of the 
relative influence of the two systems upon the mental 
development of the student. There are two reasons 
why the cramming process is to be condemned, from 
the educational standpoint. The mind is injured 
when the memory is burdened with more truths than 
the reasoning powers can properly elaborate and 
digest. Such men become mental dyspeptics. They 
are either lean and emaciated dyspeptics, because 
even the memory is unable to retain the excessive 
pabulum committed to it, or else they become 
bloated dyspeptics, without nerve or muscle, with the 
fats and sugars all absorbed, and the albuminoids all 
rejected. 

Another resulting evil is that this system tends to 
induce the habit of superficiality. Let two students, 
of the same capacity and industry, be compared under 
the two systems. Let the one be given six studies, 
and the other three. They each devote six hours a 
day to faithful study. The one will give an average 
of two hours to each branch; the other, of course, 
only one. No ambitious, thorough mind ever found 
that it had too much time to devote to any study. 
If he wishes to go well into the subject, to learn all 
about it, his two hours will pass away, and he will 
wish for more. The other, however ambitious and 
thorough he may be disposed to be, finds that it con- 
sumes all his time, using the utmost diligence, to 
obtain the truths which lie upon the surface of his 
studies. The natural result is, that the one mind is 
trained to habits of full and deep study, while the 
other is forced to content himself with skimming the 
surface. 



342 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

There are many other things which we might say 
about Mr. Kemper as an educator. It would be well 
perhaps to discuss some of his peculiarities as a dis- 
ciplinarian. This the writer forbears to do, for more 
than one reason. Candor compels him to say that 
his maturer judgment has not approved some of the 
features of the penal code of his revered teacher. 
We believe that he was far better adapted to the edu- 
cation of what are known as good boys, than he was 
to the reclamation of those who were known as bad. 
Moreover, he believes that this was Mr. Kemper's own 
judgment of himself. No man is perCecc, and this is 
the one serious criticism which we would make of 
him as an educator; and in this he may have been 
right and we wrong. 

Take him all in all, as a teacher and as an educator, 
both in its negative and positive aspects, it is our 
profound conviction that Missouri has never had his 
equal, and the country never his superior. Brethren 
of the school-room, he was our Nestor, our model. 

" Like some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, 
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm ; 
Though round its breast the swelling clouds are spread. 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

THE SAGE. 

" Knowledge is proud, thai he has learned so much ; 
Wisdom is humble, that he knows no more." 

COWPER. 

Wisdom as a practical virtue is to be seen in acts 
rather than in words. Every wise act, however, is 
but the outward realization of a prior wise thought, 
which prompted and directed it. Unfortunately 
wisdom of opinon and wisdom of life are sometimes, 
divorced ; the former may exist without the latter. 
Sometimes these wise thoughts do not reveal them- 
selves in words, but only in deeds. This is their best 
expression, in one light ; and yet, for general use- 
fulness " A word fitly spoken, how good is it ; it is 
like apples of gold in pictures of silver.'' 

We have thought it, therefore, desirable to gather 
together into this chapter some of the more interest- 
ing and valuable thoughts of Mr. Kemper, as we have 
found them scattered through his journals and com- 
monplace books. They will thus serve a double 
purpose, as a revelation of his inner self, and as food 
for reflection to those who may read these pages. 
They will be arranged under two general heads — i, 
TJiose which bear upon education ; and, 2, Those of 
a more ofeneral character. 



344 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

EDUCATIONAL MAXIMS. 

" The chief art of learning, says Locke, is to at- 
tempt but little at a time." 

'" Only save every moment of time that you now 
lose, and you will be able to do anything.' — Todd." 

" ' Make all you read your own, and you will soon 
be rich in intellectual treasures.' — Ibid." 

" Resolved never to punish a boy without clear 
conviction of its necessity, and not in a passion." 

'' Must do good. Pupils feel your character giving 
weight to precepts." 

" I will estimate my knowledge_by the number of 
ideas, not by volumes or pages gone over." 

" Great power is in the pen as a means of im- 
provement." 

" My school is too complex for one man to teach. 
I must change my plan, in order that my energies 
may be successfully applied. In either an infant 
school, a common, or a high school, I might work to 
my mind, if I could live by it." [Fie subsequently 
acted accordingly.] 

" Education first, Education last, Education al- 
ways, with the Bible for the foundation and cap- 
stone.'' 

" The faithful teacher will industriously employ 
all his time in school for the good of his scholars 
(and out of school too) ; but after all he may find it 
desirable to employ monitors to do one half the acts 
that an unwise teacher will perform himself. Let 
the teacher answer no question, do no work that can 
be done as well by a scholar ; not that he may be 
idle, but most efficiently employed." 

" The professional teacher must be at home (as 



THE SAGE. 345 

any other artist in his peculiar calling) at calculating 
every eclipse as it occurs : analyzing every plant and 
flower in his walks ; analyzing all the soils and 
minerals, in his walks and vacation excursions ; con- 
versing with fulness, and interest, and charming in- 
struction on any topic in history that may be started 
in his presence, or in polite literature ; demonstrating 
any theorem, or solving any problem in his course 
of mathematics, pure or mixed ; know his own work 
for each hour as it passes, and that of his pupils, and 
his own time and others' for each study daily, and 
how long to finish." 

'' Let everything be done with clear motives and 
superior excellency, and your heart will soon be in 
your work, and success will crown the result. It is 
as necessary for the teacher to be * interestingly em- 
ployed,' as for the pupil." 

" Have no boy of whom you cannot be proud. 
They are your representatives ; and as you labor 
faithfully, it is right to labor so wisely as to get credit 
for it." 

" OPPOSITION IS THE BADGE OF MERIT. 

' My dark-eyed darling ! don't you know, 

If you were homely, cold, and stupid, 
Unbeni for you were slander's bow? 

Her shafts but follow those of Cupid. 
Dear child of genius, strike the lyre, 

And drown with melody delicious, 
Soft answering to your touch of fire. 

The envious hint, the sneer malicious. 

' Remember, it is music's law, 

Each pure, true note, though low you sound it, 
Is heard through discord's wildest roar 
Of rage and madness storming round it. 
i6 



346 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Serenely go your glorious way, 

Secure that every footstep onward 
Will lead you from their haunts away, 
Since you go up, and they go downward.' 

Mrs. Osgood." 

'^ Labor, not pretended, but iinfeigried, interested 
and devoted, is essential for teacher and pupil. This 
clock doen'st run by weights, but by constant pull- 
ing-" 

'^ The teacher's manners toward his pupils, if he is 
right, will not be — {a) those of society in general, 
but those of a drillmaster; nor {p) those of a 
meditative philosopher, calmly walking out to mor- 
alize upon the nature of man ; but those of Cyrus's 
commanders, when ordering the wheels to be lifted 
out of the mud. {c) They will not be those of a man 
seeking favor with the public, and afraid lest he 
should lose it ; but those of a master-workman, who 
can and does exact of the best portion of the public 
to come up to his standard." 

" Idleness persisted in is to be treated as wanton- 
ness and rebellion." 

" Perhaps all a teacher's errors and failures may, 
in some way or other, be referred to neglect of little 
things. See Jesus, the son of Sirach." 

" The teacher may try it, and he will find that, in his 
questions on the chart or mathematical demonstra- 
tions, he loses his freedom and buoyancy, and power 
to excite mind, when he has to refer to his book." 

" Self-knowledge is secured by the application of 
a perfect system of school regulations. ' 

" Make most of each minute in recitation, by, ist, 
knowing the lesson perfectly in whole and part; 2nd, 



THE SAGE. 347 

by unlearning the lesson, or studying the mental 
process of the boy in studying." 

*' All scholars must know all their lessons all the 
time. Nothing less is the standard." 

" A boy's condition at a good school is that of a 
triumphant victor, rejoicing as a giant to run a 
race 

' (The noblest hero of the whole 
Is he who does himself control) '; 

or, it is that of the quarry slave, scourged to his dun- 
geon, chafed perpetually by the cords that bind him." 

'' The art of making men is the highest of arts. It 
is an art — a difficult art — comprehending so many 
arts, sciences, and moral principles, that, like the law 
of gravitation, it was long unknown, and now is only 
dimly appreciated by those who occupy 'the higher 
regions of thought.' " 

" The elements of language, properly taught, so 
cultivate the powers that any language can be learned 
as a by-business. See Milton on learning Italian." 

" Never talk to a class unless the attention of 
every member is fixed. As well teach a boy asleep 
as inattentive, and far better. For an ineffectual 
effort to do a boy good sears his susceptibilities, 
hardens his heart." 

" Whatever a boy says /// any redtafion^ is to be used 
■AS an exercise in propriety of speech,'' 

" Break up entirely the mere mechanical coming 
to school, and going through the round of recitations, 
moving in a circle, withoiLt obvious advance. If a little 
boy spells but one word at a lesson, let him know 
everything about that word. The least motion for- 
ward, if rightly done, is moving fast." 



348 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

"Let things be in the understanding before they 
are put into the memory." 

" Experience will show that numeration is the most 
important rule ; it is the science of arithmetic." 

" Self-possession and self-government before any 
action." 

"A good teacher is not the man who can answer 
an interrogatory of an inquiring mind ; but a man 
who first excites inquiiHes in the mind of dulness and 
then answers them." 

" Moral qualifications are more essential in a 
teacher than intellectual, and the great moral con- 
servator is prayer. He needs not to attempt to bring 
his pupils to be influenced by their consciences, 
unless he is himself." 

" One grand reason for the unhappiness of the 
teacher's life is, that his mind is oiU of his business. 
He is looking forward to something else. As soon 
as he can^ by the permission of the public, he is off 
from the scene of his rage and torment, to get a 
breath of fresh air and enjoy himself. There is 
matter enough in science and in the imparting of it, 
matter enough in the worth of a human mind, to 
claim the teacher's attention, study, highest interest 
and pleasure." 

" The teacher's employment is often small to an 
observer, when it is most philosophical and most 
important. The teacher is as greatly employed in 
teaching addition, as in teaching the calculation 
of eclipses. The multitude do not see this ; but it 
is because they think God is in the whirlwind, 
the fire, the storm, when He is in the still small 
voice." 



THE SAGE. 349 

" ' Who reigns within himself, and rules 

Passions, desires and fears, is more than king.' 

Milton. 

Is not the sublime picture of Milton the very essen- 
tial requisite of a good teacher?" 

'' When a boy is getting along badly, learn his sched- 
ule ; give him more time and attention ; help him, 
though undeserving, and you will love him better." 

" When a boy is in a bad spirit, all that he does is 
wrong, and it is useless to particularize. From the 
time of his rising till he is asleep, if there is not 
something wrong, it is because there is no opportu- 
nity for it." 

"The teacher need not fear that other teachers will 
copy his plans, use his thunder, rise on his merits. If 
a visitor could come into your school, and, by looking 
on, wind himself up like a clock, which would then 
operate in his own school, the teacher might fear 
being supplanted by one of less merit. But no 
teacher can copy another's excellences without copy- 
ing his excellent spirit, his true manhood, his schol- 
arly knowledge, and his technical knowledge of his 
profession. Of all such copyists, the professional 
teacher may well exclaim, ' Would that the Lord's 
people were all prophets ! ' " 

" ' I will pray for them first, and then I have no 
fears that I will do them harm, either by my thoughts 
or words.'— S. H. T.'s note. (Apply to bad boys, ig- 
norant and bad parents, and to all who vex me in 
any way.)" 

" Knowledge, perfect as the best author, perfect as 
the best scholai^ is required to recite, perfect as law of 
mind requires the teacher to attain." 



35 o THE LIFE OF PROF, KEMPER. 

" Look over roll to prepare for teaching Avith ref- 
erence to the scholar's progress, his knowledge, in- 
terest, moral character, and destination, parental 
relation, etc." 

" The teacher's talisman consists in three things : — 
First, A right mental and moral condition in self and 
scholars. ^Second, Attention to minutiae, as to con- 
dition and progress ; e.g. what, how, where, and why 
of spelling lessons. Third, Drilling in business qual- 
ifications, accounts, mensuration, interest, letter-writ- 
ing, good as to penmanship and diction." 

" There is no danger of the honest teacher being 
unfaithful ; but great danger of not being intellectually 
employed each hour he teaches. (I refer to clear, 
serene, strong intellect.) Secure the latter at all 
hazards." 

" There are things that are essential, without which 
greatness and goodness cannot exist — viz. (i) Spirit 
of prayer. (2) Clear plan and knowledge. (3) Dig- 
nity and kindness — no shame. (4) Firmness and sub- 
ordination in school. No pains to be spared for 
these." 

" I must go out of myself to my business, and return 
to myself with pleasure. So even public worship, 
and private too, are means. They must be used by an 
intelligent agent, w^ho uses them and is not a nonentity, 
or a passive being suffering their influence to fall 
upon him. This will effectually save the teacher 
from the trituration of little cares, and make him 
strong as a giant, by daily conquering and control- 
ling himself." 

" True and steady estimate of my profession as a 
teacher. Not, at one time elated to sublimest flights 



THE SAGE. 351 

of philosophy ; and at another, debased to the level 
of the itinerant, starveling kicked-out pedagogue." 

" Teacher's greatest danger is from abnormal action 
— physical, intellectual, and moral. The farmer gets 
exercise and fresh air without thinking about them- 
But the teacher must think about them and provide 
for them, watch his own feelings and comfort, and 
capability for business. He must make these the 
rule of his system of exercise, diet, etc., and no dictum 
of the physiologist. 

" On the other hand, the farmer and most mechani- 
cal employments require little of mental or moral 
quality in their performance ; while the teacher is 
all the time, and must of necessity be, performing 
moral action, and that about the most minute things, 
and always in circumstances specially trying. Then 
mind, as the material he works on and the instrument 
he works with, depraved nature to mould and control 
in the pupil, the same in himself, and previous bad 
habits in both. 

" What but so walking with God as not to fulfil 
the lusts of the flesh can keep that calm balance of 
the powers, which make those powers successful, or 
intelligently or comfortably employed? His petty 
cares, like his manner of doing everything, require 
mi nil fe attention, not slight but minute, exact attention- 
He may neglect whenever neglect causes no petty^ 
abnormal action. But let him remember that the 
smaller the duty, the greater the danger of sin stealing 
in unperceived. Economists save dimes. Christians 
must mind every idle word; and he that despiseth 
small things shall fall by little and little." 

" Let the teacher have all right before God and 



352 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

man, before self and scholars ; let perfect truth and 
holiness swell his bosom, and you can as soon pre- 
vent a little leaven from leavening the whole lump, as 
to prevent his usefulness, respectability, and hap- 
piness." 

" No scholar is so bad (if good enough to remain 
in school) but a perfect teacher will secure his respect, 
and control his powers, unconsciously to the scholar 
himself. Every humble, pious man is respected. 
' When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh 
even his enemies to be at peace with him.' ' Men 
Vi\\\ praise thee, when thou doest well for thyself.' " 

"'I venerate the man who knows what he means.' 
— German Poet (quoted memoriter) . N ow the teacher 
must know in regard to religion, health, profession, 
toil, recreation, etc., etc." 

"Under all provocations and petty cares, reflect 
in a manly manner— not what punishment is deserved, 
but what is proper for me to do." 

"In order to usefulness to fellow-men, success 
among them, or even admission to their society, 
health, cheerfulness, and oneness of character are 
requisite, perhaps essential, to the teacher, who vol- 
untarily resigns the influence of wealth, fame, and 
pleasure. All must be right within, that all may be 
right without." 

« " Let the educator enter upon his profession with 
the perseverance of Forcellinus, who spent forty 
years on his great lexicon." 

" Resolved to learn more by conversation, and to make 
my recitations a converse of the soul of self and 
scholars. Thus we shall learn more, be happier in 
learning, and retain it longer." 



THE SAGE. 353 

'•'■ The teacher in studying must not do this to make 
men distinguish him as a very learned man, above 
most of his fellow-men. This isolation from his 
fellows would make him lonely, unhappy, and unfit 
for his business, even if he could attain it. But he 
must study the higher branches to perfect him in his 
calling, that he maybe more truly one of the people. 
The best blacksmith in a country becomes, by his 
superiority as a smith, more closely allied with the 
people. They are more interested in him socially 
and pecuniarily. So it should be with the teacher. 
He can, moreover, acquire, if wise, a strong hold upon 
the hearts of the people, in the way of gratitude and 
confidence. The blacksmith who is superior to other 
smiths in his vicinity is but a better citizen by the 
operation, and therefore more closely allied to his 
fellow-men. So no superiority in any calling should 
raise the incumbent above his fellow-men (Deut. 
17 : 20), but make him a better public servant, and dearer 
to the people.^ and more intimate iv'.th them. ' I am no 
better than other people.' — Jenny Lind." 

" The teacher who finds his seven years of college 
retirement, the monkish tendency of teaching all day 
and studying lessons at night for next day, and 
the abstraction of abstract thoughts and sciences — 
make him unsocial, must allot a portion of time 
systematically to visiting, and visit even though he 
does not feel like it. He must cultivate those prac- 
tical branches of study which throw him into com- 
munion . with physical nature, with men of busi- 
ness — surveying in field, geology, botany, etc. He 
must seek the acquaintance of his fellow-raen ; be the 
first to get acquainted with a stranger settling in the 
16* 



354 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

town ; he must attend to his dress and manners, so as 
to make himself agreeable to society, and especially 
to get a passport to the MY society in any place where 
he may sojourn ; always remembering that true Chris- 
tianity is true politeness." 

"The vast amount of knowledge to be acquired 
shall not, in the first place, discourage me. Then I will 
not make its vastness an excuse for hurry ; as haste 
makes waste, and results in doing Yio\\\\VL^'\w progress^ 
and worse than nothing in mental and moral habits. 
But, thirdly, the vastness of what is to be done shall 
be inducement to make wiser plans, and to pursue 
them with the unchanging perseverance of the tortoise 
when he beat the hare. Great attainments are to be 
made by the lapse of time^ when individ.cal moments 
have been improved. Acorns make oaks. Do well 
wdiatever is done." 

'* To be a perfect teacher (and every ^y?.?// teacher 
must aim at perfection) you must make your arrange- . 
ments to have perfect Character.^ perfect Health., and 
perfect Knowledge. He who has not time to attend 
to these three is a mechanic who has not time to take 
care of his tools," 

" The teacher's is a highly intellectual and spiritual 
employment. He must use all the means of health 
and of exhilaration in his business, with at least the 
care of professional musicians, who live by their 
concerts. The carpenter feels best while shov- 
ing his plane. He whistles while at work. That 
the teacher may feel like whistling at his work, he 
must not only have character, health, and knowledge, 
but he must have daily success. Where parents do 
not give him an opportunity, they must be distinctly 



THE SAGE. 355 

apprised of the state of facts. The teacher must be 
so settled in his mind that the cause of failure is not 
in his health, his excessive labors, or his want of per- 
fect self and school government, as not to be disturb- 
ed in his equanimity by any annoyance from want of 
success in the case of any scholar." 

" Resolved to pursue my calling so as to make it 
interesting to my imagination, and pleasant. A 
special guard must be had against trying to do too 
much," 

" The carpenter who whistles at his work, or 
rather has the spirit of song while at work, will do 
much more than another who is dull. The school- 
boy who has to get up and feed and curry a horse 
will be better for school by that diversion of thought. 
But if he feeds a pig, which shall be his own pig for 
market, how infinitely better for his feelings, 

'^ The teacher who keeps everything in order, and 
makes little episodes of cleaning up (even shoes), 
may find his heart interested in the neatness, comfort, 
and economy resulting, and will be greatly better 
fitted for his monotonous duties. He will find him- 
self whistling while at such- work. Then let him so 
pursue his work as to be certain of success, and self- 
poised in school, and then the attrition of little cares 
cannot use him up." 

" Your boys are bound to learn — don't be afraid. 
Be enthusiastic, and give the teacher a chance 
to succeed and to be enthusiastic himself. He 
then will make them learn, as fast as they will take 
it." 

" Every teacher is a housekeeper in his school-room, 
and, if a bachelor, in his chan^ber and sitting-room. 



356 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

These petty duties will relieve his mind and fit him 
for school. But if he is a sloven here, he will be a 
sloven in mentals and pedagogics ; and in these de- 
partments he will work the ruin of scholars and of 
self. See here great effects from little causes. Have 
then a code of housekeeping.'' 

" ' It is as hard to teach an hour as it is to preach 
an hour.' Doing either all day will soon kill one. 
Besides teaching a class, the teacher must watch 
school — a double debt to pay." 

" All pupils submit like little children at the start. 
All the wisest will. The most foolish only have to 
be made." 

'' I am going to educate you. I do not mean to be 
unhealthy over it, or to be exhausted by too much 
work, or by worrying, or hurrying, or by anxiety or 
despondency. I mean to carry you through, as the 
Crotonian carried the bull through the stadium. 
Yes., I, /will do what few can ; ITl walk the course, 
firm as a giant and graceful as a tragedian. God 
help this exertion of my will. Make me strong in 
the strength which God supplies." 

'' The teacher has no right to go into his school- 
room in bad health, with his faculties dull, with his 
bodily frame not elastic and not in perfect trim — i.e.., 
so far as these depend upon the faithful use of every 
possible means of health." 

" Manage by love, get their affections. To this 
end, you must love them, and be lovely yourself. To 
be lovely is not to w^hine and feign a smile, when 
you do not feel like it. But to be first pure and good 
yourself., then express what you are.'' 

" Boys must be made to study, if they will have it 



THE SAGE. 357 

so ; but they ought to study, because they are inter- 
ested and see the importance of it." 

" Put yourself fully in the current of competition 
in your school. Be second to none. Let no sister of 
charity be kinder, no Wyman be more attentive to 
the wants of pupils, no school be better fitted in 
minutiae." 

" The virtues, as love, patience, fortitude, etc. ; 
the minor virtues, order, cleanliness, neatness, etc. ; 
the Christian graces, love, joy, meekness, etc. ; and 
the sciences and arts, mathematics, physics, reading — 
all groiv in clusters. Any one will grow better by 
growing with all the others, and no one can grow 
well without some improvement in the others. See 
here what a perfect man the teacher must be. In 
greater and minor virtues, in Christianity, in learn- 
ing (especially teacher's knowledge), he must honor 
God and his calling, be at peace in the midst of 
trials, serene, and resolute, and calm, and stern, and 
self-possessed. But how immeasurably is his burden 
increased when it is recollected that he must not 
only possess these things in common with other 
good men, but must impart them to others, must re- 
form the wayw^ard, and labor for the ungrateful and 
faultfinding." 

''Teachers' knowledge means this: Men, in 
general, know a subject well enough, when they 
have their purposes answered. The teacher never 
knows a subject well enough, when anything could 
be learned that would add to the interest of a pupil a 
single particle, or save a second's time at reci- 
tation." 

" School government must be strong, successful 



3S^ THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. ' 

(letting no villain avoid duty), administered with 
perfect self-control on the part of the teacher, and in 
the spirit of true Christian love, without affected 
whining smiles, or artful efforts for popularity." 

"^ General knowledge is all that is necessary for 
the polite scholar. But the teacher cannot interest 
these general, polite scholars without having all the 
minutiae at hand always bright. Just as the minister 
of the cross prepares himself laboriously for weeks 
to elucidate a knotty point in theology [after having 
gone through a college and theological course) ; although 
it is enough for a hearer to listen attentively for an 
hour that the difficulties may vanish. Teachers must 
be able to recite all his grammars, make analyses of 
geometry, elementary, analytical, and descriptive, at 
any moment's bidding. Then descend to such ar- 
bitrary things as recollecting labors of Hercules, nine 
muses, positive and negative metals, conductors of 
heat and electricity, seven wise men of Greece, twelve 
patriarchs, twelve apostles, seven churches, books 
and chapters in Bible, formulae in arithmetic and al- 
gebra, verbatim methods of explaining rules in each, 
verbatim definitions m2i\\ sciences, measures, statistics, 
etc., etc." 

" Teacher must know where each boy is now, 
where he was a w^eek ago, so as to note progress. 
Not only what his daily lessons are, but hoi& he pre- 
pares them, what time he gives to them, how long he 
is to come to school, how long to study each branch. 
Such an exact plan, that the best half of every class 
will perfectly exem.plify the mode of learning, and 
the worst half may learn if they ivoiild. Thus shame 
and faultfinding will %o where they belong. This 



THE SAGE. 359 

implies, of course, that the teacher knows all that he 
would have Ms scholars know, and is willing to sub- 
mit to most severe tests." 

We might have made many more extracts, setting 
forth his ideas and plans as a scholar, a teacher, and 
an educator. Enough have been given, however, to 
show his most important thoughts, and to reveal him 
as one of the most philosophical, exact, and pains- 
taking of teachers. His co-workers in the school- 
room will find in these extracts much matter for 
practical, profitable reflection. 

It was our purpose to put into this chapter some of 
his religious meditations ; but as its limits will not 
permit, we shall defer them until we discuss his 
Christian character, and conclude by giving some 
selections of a 

GENERAL NATURE. 

" Obey natural and moral law, and let happiness 
and circumstances go to the winds, or where they 
please." 

" Anger and irritability are not forcible^ afraid to 
be so ; but see the force of Leonard in court." 

"It is not poverty that can make a man unhappy, 
but discontent. This points the spear and whets the 
edge of bad circumstances. This clouds the brow 
with gloom. He should, as Tupper says, ' Smile and 
be content.' Then sorrow grows bright. Discon- 
tent unfits for business too, wears out the soul, works 
death. It must be the portion of every ambitious 
sinner, however successful ; for it is not in thQ nahire 
or dtiratioii of earthly good to satisfy man. But a 
quiet conscience and contented mind can do it. 



360 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Present content improves to-morrow without car- 
ing for it. I will enjoy what I now have, and * take 
no thought for the morrow. Sufficient unto the day 
is the evil thereof.' This is my ' crock of gold.' The 
contented, humble man will acheive more than the 
proud, though Jess noisy — more real goody 

" Place, time, and manner for everything, and 
everything in its place, time, and manner." 

" ' Be a whole man to one thing at a time,' as 
Brougham says. One thing at a time, and it well 
done." 

'' The first sure symptom of a mind in health is rest 
of heart and pleasure felt at home, especially after a 
a hard day's work, or week's." 

" Do what experience shows is most comfortable. 
This implies self-knowledge, self-possession, self-gov- 
ernment, self-examination." 

^' Mens Sana in corpore sanoj ' 

"Economize dimes; cancel debts as fast as pos- 
sible." 

" No inability arising from bad bodily or mental 
health. See Bronson on the voice. Each day must 
bring its due amount of rest, and nourishment, and 
sleep. A nervous man must not only allow time 
enough for sleep, but prepare for bed so as to get 
sleep while in bed." 

" Be a Christian and philosopher. No outward 
circumstances can prevent one's being learned, wise, 
good, polite, cheerful, and happy, if all is right 
within." 

"Be prepared for petty careshj a faithful perform- 
ance of petty duties. ' Many a sensitive spirit is worn 
away by the attrition of petty vexations.' Avoid all 



THE SAGE. 361 

avoidable vexations, and rejoice in the unavoidable 
ones as a part of God's direct disciplinary providence. 
Thus you will avoid being vexed about what you can 
help, and what you caiinot help." 

'' Not only are emotions to be watched, but the 
causes of them," 

"A man of two minds is unstable in all his ways." 

^' Remember that despondency is the greatest of 
weaknesses. It unfits for present duty, and retrieves 
not a lost cent, nor a wasted moment." 

" ' Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and 
Taylor were all reflecting, dispassionate^ and self -poised. 
Marshall was as undisturbed by passion as the moun- 
tain is by the storms which war beneath its summit.' 
Majestic soul !" 

" Singtclarity and individuality, not for show, but for 
the sake of that secret thought and devotion which 
secure great results. He who produces great results, 
or makes great attainments, uses peculiar means 
which others despise. But this singularity gives him 
individuality, self-respect, and self-reliance." 

"Symmetry and uniformity of character can only 
be secured by perfect attention to all moral action, 
however small. The truth is harmonious, and it 
alone is. Moral action, moreover, cannot exist with- 
out attention ; it would be machinery and habit, not 
moral action. 

" Be so ' resolute and calm ' as, under the most dis- 
tracting duties, to preserve 'virtue's awful eye,' the 
power of a serene countenance, stern and severe if 
need be^, but never passionate, or indicating any want 
of self-control." 

" Every meal should be : i. A sacrifice of gratitude 



362 TFIE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

to God. 2. An exercise of self-government, beautiful 
regard for natural law. 3. Time for natural enjoy- 
ment of food. 4. An occasion for improving the 
social powers, politeness, etc." 

" ' I see no fault that I have not myself committed.' 
— German ^^^/ (memoriter). Then be not censorious, 
but charitable and forgiving." 

" Let no man despise learning through you, saying 
that it unfits for business of life." 

"'Honor all men. Be courteous, pitiful, gentle, 
pleasing your neighbor for his good to edification.' 

" As peace is worth more than knowledge, be 
satisfied with present attainments, while using all 
proper means for increase of knowledge. Work, but 
don't worry. Haste, but don't hurry." 

" Nothing but perfection will make the soul, cre- 
ated in God's image, happy at all times. Be it mine 
to aim at perfection, and to make daily progress in it ; 
perfection, especially in little things — my words, my 
books, my thoughts, my demeanor. This requires 
that originality which does everything well and in 
my own way. I can never secure happiness and the 
highest wisdom by imitating other s."" 

" Resolved, not only in matters of justice, but of 
social expression of kindness and love, to regard all men 
as brethren.' ' 

'■'-^ Labor ipse voluptas.' Apply this to study, teach- 
ing, and all employments." 

" ' Be swift to hear, slow to speak.' The first is 
promotive of knowledge, and is a good antidote to 
absence of mind in company. The second prevents 
scandal and imprudences, and gives influence, self- 
possession, and self-respect."' 



THE SAGE. ^6t, 

"'Did General Jackson go to heaven, in your 
opinion ? ' ' Did he ever say he was going there ? ' 
'I heard him say so.' ' Well, he went.' " 

"Soul first (or you are an idolater) ; then health, 
or you throw stones into your machinery ; then 
school; then study." 

Thus ends this collection of " orient pearls at 
random strung." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE MORALIST. 

" There is a devil in every berry of the grape," — Koran. 
•' Ten thousand casks, 
Forever dribbling out their base contents, 
Touched by the Midas finger of the state, 
Bleed gold for ministers to sport away. 
Drink, and be mad then, 'Tis your country bids. 
Gloriously drunk, obey th' important call, 
Her cause demands the assistance of your throats. 
Ye all can swallow, and she asks no more," 

COWPER. 

It is the purpose of these closing chapters to give 
a truthful and, as far as may be, comprehensive view 
of Mr. Kemper's inner self. The preceding three 
have bought out traits that were mainly intellectual. 
This and the next will seek to present him as he 
stood in the higher, the moral sphere, which contains 
two continents, lying side by side like Asia and 
Europe, the earthly and the heavenly. Either of 
these is so extensive that its full discussion, within 
a few pages, is impracticable. So far as mere natural 
morality is concerned, there are many points of 
interest and importance, in connection with Mr. 
Kemper's character, which might be given : his truth- 
fulness, honesty, generosity, hospitality, consideration 
for the young, the lowly, the unfortunate. Suffice it 



THE MORALIST. 365 

to say that, in all the duties arising out of the re- 
lations of this" life, domestic, social, patriotic, and 
philanthropic, his principles were enlightened and 
elevated, and his practice such as made him a model 
for young men. 

As we cannot elaborate all, we have determined, 
for several reasons, to select one, somewhat as a type 
of the rest. Practically it is certainly one of the most 
important in this age and part of the world. We 
have been led, however, to select this, for the ad- 
ditional reason, that he has left behind him a full 
and eloquent statement of his views regarding it. 
We thus accomplish a double purpose ; as the speech, 
which will be given in full, will not only clearly de- 
fine his position on this important question of morals, 
but wall also furnish a fair specimen of his ability as 
a rhetorician and an orator. 

The proper use of alcoholic liquors, whether fer- 
mented or distilled, is one of the most interesting 
practical problems of this day. It is a question 
which, more or less directly, affects every individual, 
every parent, every wife, every child, every patriot, 
every philanthropist, every Christian. It is the 
skeleton in the closet of the majority of the wretched 
families of this country. More secret and bitter tears 
are shed over it, perhaps, than over all other miseries 
combined. 

Mr. Kemper was always, in practice, a temperate 
man. He was more : he entirely abstained from the 
use of intoxicating liquors. In the mind of many, 
these are associated with tobacco, the narcotic 
stimulant. He never used tobacco in any form. 
This was his practice; his principles are presented 



366 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

in the speech we shall give, prepared when he was 
a young man, and delivered by him on more than 
one occasion. 

" THE TEMPERANCE REFORM A WORK OF PURE 
BENEVOLENCE. 

'' I stand here to-day at the request of the presi- 
dent of your society. You will allow me to say that 
it is an honor which I am too well acquainted with 
myself to have souglit, or even to have accepted, 
but for special reasons. 

*' Temperance is a subject which, when rightly 
understood, deserves a noble rank among the great 
moral movements of the age. Yet it is a subject 
sometimes unworthily regarded as only fit for a 
schoolboy's experiment, or for the flippancy and brass 
of the village orator. In such a state of feeling, what 
fiiend of the cause would, when called upon, shrink 
from its advocacy.^ However feebly the subject may 
be discussed to-day, it is in itself a tower of strength, 
a theme in reference to which we may boldly say, 
* Hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may 
hear. ' 

" One of the most interesting aspects of the tem- 
perance society is its relation to the great cause 
of man's improvement, intellectually and morally, 
which so conspicuously marks the present age. Some, 
even in the 19th century, have doubted whether man 
has made progress in his best interests, and whether 
all things are not as they were from the beginning. 
This, if not a misanthropic, must be a misinformed 
judgment, as it certainly is a very gloomy one. The 
page of prophecy and the signs of the times indicate 



THE MORALIST. 367 

just the reverse. Has not the harp of prophecy, ' in 
tones as sweet as angels use, 'told of the period when 
' many shall run to and fro ; and knowledge shall be 
increased ' ? Take a solitary instance of modern im- 
provement for illustration : the steam-engine driving 
the rapid wheel along the iron road or through the 
billowy deep, instinct with life and motion, perform- 
ing the labor and relieving the toil of a thousand 
horses, yet governed by a touch of the hand, by which 
a vapor, light as smoke, is revolutionizing the world. 
" But it is not enough for man's highest interests 
that he be iHtellectually illuminated and physically 
benefited. In the language of a great master, ' All 
that is great is ino?^alJ In vain shall the light of 
knowledge blaze around us, until in prophetic lan- 
guage, ' the light of the moon shall be as the light of 
the sun, and the light of the sun seven-fold,' if there 
is no correspondent improvement of those passions 
and propensities, which have made the reader of his- 
tory to sicken at its story. Shall we glorify ourselves 
that modern science has made neighbors of the world's 
antipodes, if it has only brought into contiguity the 
same old elements of discord and moral death ? No, 
not so. But this is not our unhappy condition. Not 
only shall the human intellect, like the sun of the 
morning, struggle above the mists of ignorance and 
superstition, but the storm of human passion shall be 
calmed till 

" ' Peace on earth shall hold her easy sway, 
And man forbear his brother man to slay.' 

One song, one song of love, employs all nations, 

' ' And mountain top, from distant mountain top. 
Shall catch the flying joy.' 



368. THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER, 

" Now, whatever promotes a result so desirable 
commends itself to our benevolence, our patriotism, 
our philanthropy, and our religion. It is our purpose 
to show that the teaiperance movement is an essential 
element in that system of means which is to regen- 
erate a world. In the prosecution of this argument 
we shall not find it necessary to run foul of any man's 
creed or to rasp unkindly across the feelings of the 
most sensitive. 

" Classic fable tells of a certain robber, Procrustes, 
away back in the age of Theseus, who had an iron 
bed on which he placed his victims. If they were 
shorter than bis bed, he stretched them until they 
equaled it in length. If longer, he barbarously cut 
off the excess of length. A striking picture of an age 
of savage darkness. Men talk as they please about 
the dangers of freedom of opinion, and European 
governments and professed republics may muzzle the 
press ; but they can never alter the hard fact that, if 
anything under heaven is sacredly and peculiarly a 
man's own, it is his own opinion. This fact lies in 
the very nature of things. It belongs to the existence 
of mind, and is indestructible as mind itself. Yet 
there will be opposers ; for, to use the words of a 
celebrated Irish orator, ' Bigotry has no head, and 
cannot think ; she has no heart, and cannot feel ; and, 
if she pause a moment in her eternal flight, it is but to 
whet her fangs foi keener rapine and replume her 
wings for more sanguinary desolation.' 

"We shall not attempt to further a benevolent 
cause in any other than a benevolent spirit. Such 
a course savors indeed of human weakness, but 
is no part of the temperance reformation or of its 



THE MORALIST. 369 

allies. It needs no such cdd. ' Non tali auxilio 
teDipns egetj When I cannot promote a cause of 
benevolence without vilifying those not connected 
with it, and impeaching their motives, may ' my right 
hand forget her cunning, and my tongue cleave to 
the roof of my mouth,' I am opposed to the use of 
intoxicating drinks as a beverage ; but among those 
who make and sell the article I number some of my 
best friends and most respectable citizens. I have 
observed that this abuse is the result of great weak- 
ness, and sometimes of that canting hypocrisy which 
cares so much for the public morals as to neglect its 
own. Never, I repeat it, is it the legitimate fruit of 
temperance principles. 

" A similar error is found in the extreme to which 
some injudicious friends would push their opposition 
to the use of spirituous liquors. Not content to 
abandon its use as a drink, they would banish it from 
the workshop of the artisan, the laboratory of the 
chemist, and the shelves of the druggist. For such 
a notion the temperance society is by no means re- 
sponsible. This is not what we teach. We inculcate 
that, apart from the vast evils of intemperance, it is 
physically, chemically demonstrable, that alcohol is 
injurious to the health of a healthy man. Therefore, 
it is best not to use it as a drink. If any man chooses 
to make temperance his hobby, and ride it till his 
head can hold but one idea, to him alone be the folly 
and the shame. 

" In showing how intimately our cause is connected 

with man's intellectual and moral improvement, it 

may be of some interest to take a rapid glance at the 

past history of the world. It will appear that in- 

17 



370 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

temperance has had a prominent part in making the 
world what it has been— a stage on which has been 
enacted, from age to age, a tragedy of crime and 
calamity, of blood and suffering. I recollect, when 
qiute a small boy, to have read the fable of the Court 
of Death. 

" It represents Death, the King of Terrors, as about 
to choose a prime minister. Having assembled his 
most efficient emissaries, he declared his intention 
to bestow this exalted honor on that servant who 
had caused the greatest waste of human life. First 
came War. He came thundering from a thousand 
battle-fields. He strode with iron foot before the 
assembled courtiers, and confidently claimed the 
office. Next came Pestilence, and told how he had 
mounted on the wings of the wind, and desolated 
kingdoms, until the voracity of death was sated. 
Then Consumption and Famine, meagre, and wan, 
and attenuated, claimed pre-eminence among the 
shadowy ministers of Death. But while these claims 
were being considered, there was a pause and an 
interest, as if some distinguished personage was 
approaching. It was Intemperance. Bloated, and 
stupid with beclouded brain and blunted sensibilities, 
he stated his case. He had withered the rose from 
the cheek of the blooming bride. He had multiplied 
widows and orphans and beggars, had swelled the 
catalogue of crime, demented judges, jurors, and 
lawyers, physicians, ministers, and statesmen ; and 
all diseases followed in, his train. The other appli- 
cants retired, and Intemperance was installed the 
Prime Minister of Death. 

" It is a part of our blissful ignorance that we are 



THE MORALIST. 371 

not assured of the existence of intemperance in the 
antediluvian world. We do not know that this was 
one of the sins for which the waves wheeled and 
gamboled above the highest mountains. But we do 
know that the ancient patriarch, just buoyed up 
above a prostrate world, was made drunk and dis- 
graced by wine. On every page of history, from 
the days of Noah till the present, has this demon 
rioted in his wild and besotting revel. The deifica- 
tion of Bacchus, the god of wine, occurred in India 
in its early history, and to the present day his rites 
are mingled with the obscenities of the pagan wor- 
ship. Athens, as she advanced in refinement and the 
arts, paid her devotions more sedulously to the rosy 
god, till Plato says he saw the whole city drimk on 
a feast of Bacchus. Thus were drunkenness and de- 
bauchery linked with the religious feelings of the 
most enlightened people of antiquity. Here it was 
that a theatre was dedicated to Bacchus which held 
thirty thousand spectators ; and then, as now, the 
favorite victims of this vice were men of genius, of 
power, and capabilities of usefulness. 

" Alexander the Great, that prodigy of humanity, 
after having subdued the world by his genius, dies 
in a drunken frolic, and yields his mighty soul a 
captive to the reeling god. . He dies at Babylon, 
where, two centuries before, that ' beauty of the Chal- 
dees' excellency ' was laid in the dust, while her king 
and a thousand of her lords were drunk with wine. 
Yes, Babylon, the mistress of kingdoms, is no 
more. As the Euphrates, like a pilgrim monarch, 
passes the ruins of the wasted kingdom, the silent 
ripple of its wave tells of wine and its attendant 



372 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER, 

vices ; and the gray osiers that grow along its banks, 
as they sigh to the breeze that wafts across the ruins 
of the imbecility of man, mingle in the dirge their 
warnings against intemperance as a national sin. 

" But if the philosophy and morals of Socrates and 
Plato were no antidote to this vice, we would surely 
expect that iron-hearted Rome would scorn its effem- 
inating influences. While her soldiers drank vine- 
gar and water, she trod with iron foot on the nations 
of the world. They marched with a weight of 
armor under which a modern soldier can scarcely 
stand. Here, too, are introduced the Bacchanalian 
festivals. Feasts of revelry become part of the 
Roman religion. They often worshiped in the 
night, the strictest secrecy being enjoined on all 
who participated ; and thus the holiest, strongest 
feelings of the mistress of the world were enlisted in 
a service where ' vice held carnival and sin kept 
lent.' The senate, -not out of a regard for morals, 
but from policy, abolished these festivals. But it 
was too late : the greenness of youth, the freshness 
of her heart were gone. 

" Such was the world's addictedness to drunken- 
ness before the process of distillation was discovered. 
As a cliemical fact, the distilling of alcohol is inter- 
esting, and forms a part of the progress of science. 
But, alas for mankind, that there has been so little of 
true knowledge connected with its origin and use. 
It originated in the days of alchemy, when the 
philosophers invoked witchcraft and magic for the 
production of their universal solvent, by which any- 
thing might be turned into gold. Its nature and in- 
fluence have been little understood. Theoricus, a 



THE MORALIST. 373 

writer of the sixteenth century, gives us the follow- 
ing description : 

" ' Alcohol sloweth age ; it strengtheneth youth ; it 
helpeth digestion; it abandoneth melancholic; it 
cureth the hydropsia; it puffeth away ventositie ; it 
keepeth and preserveth the head from whirling, the 
eyes from dazzling, the tongue from lisping, the mouth 
from snaffling, the stomach from wambling, the heart 
from swelling ; it keepeth the hands from shivering, 
the sinews from shrinking, th e veins from crumbling, 
the bones from aching, and the marrow from soak- 
ing.' No wonder that there was no longer search 
for the philosopher's stone ; for here was a substitute 
answering far better purposes. 

"We should have been glad of the use of distilla- 
tion, if ignorance had not presided at its discovery. 
Hence from a cloud, no larger than a man's hand, 
has grown a' lowering and tempestuous blackness, 
brooding over the world, and desolating the lands 
with its tempestuous torrents. Distilled liquor was 
first brought into ordinary use in the Hungarian 
mines, to preserve the workmen from the effects of 
damp and cold. In 1583 it was first dealt out to 
English soldiers for almost the same purpose. From 
this beginning it has grown until it has polluted 
every walk of life. Drunken physicians have at- 
tended the sick and the dying. Drunken lawyers have 
enlightened the bench, that needed to be exhilarated 
by alcohol. Drunken clergy have preached the 
gospel to a people who have nourished intemper- 
ance, till, old enough to live without its foster- 
mother, the Church, it has been excommunicated 
from her narrow precincts, to ruin family and friend, 



374 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

to disgrace responsible office, and to fill the grave of 
the loathsome drunkard. 

" Such is an outline of the past history of intem- 
perance. It is very difficult to conceive adequately 
of the magnitude of this evil as it exists among us 
at the present day, so interwoven is it with sickness 
and pauperism and crime and mental and moral 
imbecility. Some years since a scarcity of provi- 
sions was apprehended in Ireland, and a law was 
passed forbidding the distillation of corn. The con- 
sequence was that the anticipated scarcity was pre- 
vented. Ireland exported corn that year, and bought 
double the quantity of blankets she had done before. 
Felix Grundy says that after thirty years' extensive 
practice as a lawyer, it is his opinion that four fifths 
of all the crimes in the United States can be traced 
to intemperance. 

" Why is it, then, that this evil, of such acknowl- 
edged magnitude, excites so little interest among 
men v/ho are, in general, the friends of temperance 
and friends of their kind ? I answer, because we 
deal in generalities, and do so little that gives spe- 
cial point to our good wishes. This is precisely the 
difficulty which the organization of temperance 
societies meets and vanquishes. We look upon in- 
temperance as we look upon death itself, until its 
very familiarity renders us insensible to it. The 
soldier can walk among the heaped-up corpses of 
the battle-field with as little concern as if they were 
so many stones. Familiarity with death makes its 
impressions as transient as those of the wing of the 
bird in its flight through the air. 



THE MORALIST. 375 

' As from the wing no scar the sky retains, 
The parted wave no furrow from the keel, 
So dies in human hearts the thought of death/ 

Butler, in his 'Analogy,' accounts for this state of 
things in a way that may give the friends of tem- 
perance a lesson. He remarks that those impres- 
sions in which we are passive, are always weakened 
by repetition, while those feelings excited by the 
active exercise of our own powers become more in- 
tense with the activity put forth. So that our minds 
and our benevolence, like the brawny muscles of the 
blacksmith's arm, become large and strong by exer- 
cise. 

" Here is a vice which takes off from our land its 
thirty thousand victims annually, erasing every orig- 
inal, godlike lineament from every one of its victims, 
and weighing like an incubus upon the breast of 
human progress as it is palpitating to advance. 
Look at its waste of intellect ; and the intellectual 
resources of this nation need to be developed no less 
than its natural wealth. Many a genius that would 
have arisen and shed glory from its wings has 'gone 
down to the vile dust from whence he sprung, un- 
wept, unhonored, and unsung.' This waste of mind, 
could we see it collected, would swell into mountains 
and rise above the stars. It is insanity to talk of the 
intellectual resources of this people being devel- 
oped till this bane of intellect is banished. But the 
loss to the community of an army of drunkards, 
who might have filled the front ranks of usefulness 
and honor, and the wail of a host of tattered and 
disconsolate widows, are not the worst features of 
this picture. There are the tears and woe of the 



376 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

friendless, uneducated orphans, thrown upon the 
world's cold charity, with no affectionate home to 
develop their sympathies : and with none to care for 
their moral susceptibilities, they are schooled to vice 
and invited to crime, each one liable to become a 
nucleus, around which may cluster a thousand hered- 
itary obliquities, and a radiant point for diffusing 
the ribaldry and blasphemy and debauchery which 
infect the lowest drunkeries. Ah ! the tombs of the 
drunkard's uneducated and vicious children plead 
eloquently for the full blaze of the era of the eleva- 
tion of the individual man. 

* No doubt, in those neglected tombs are laid 

Some hearts once pregnant with celestial fire ; 
Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed, 
Or waked to eloquence the living lyre. 

* Some village Hampden, that, with dauntless breast, 

The little tyrant of his fields withstood ; 
Some mute, inglorious Milton there may rest ; 
Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood. 

' But knowledge to their eyes her ample page, 
Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unfold ; 
Chill penury repressed their noble rage. 
And froze the genial current of the soul.' 

" Where is any effectual remedy for this vice ? It 
is in abstinence from intoxicating liquors as a bev- 
erage, a common drink. In this there is no monk- 
ish austerity, and no refusal to enjoy God's gifts in 
their most benign profusion. We hold that ' every 
creature of God is good,' and that ^ He has given us 
all things richly to enjoy.' But surely they are to be 
enjoyed in accordance with the laws which God has 



THE MORALIST, 377 

impressed on our physical constitution. God has 
given us every article in the materia medica^ but are 
we therefore to use tobacco and prussic acid and 
arsenic as ingredients in our breakfasts and dinners 
and suppers ? Is that what is meant by enjoying thank- 
fully theblessings of Providence ? Everything is to 
be enjoyed in accordance with its own nature. Now 
what is the nature of alcohol, and what is its place? 
It is useful to the physician, to the chemist, the artist. 
Is it useful in the stomach of a healthy man ? Ask 
Dr. Drake, probably the most distinguished medical 
man in the West, and he will tell you "that alcohol 
has no appropriate place there; that, when intro- 
duced, it is neither converted into blood, flesh, 
nor bone. Nor Dr. Drake alone; but every man 
who knows the chemical properties of spirituous 
liquors and the physiology of digestion tells the 
same story. 

" On the banner of temperance is inscribed, Tem- 
perance consists in the moderate use of things useful, 
and in abstinence from those that are pernicious. 
Pointing to the superlative and unmitigated woe of 
the past, and to the bright prospect of a glorious 
future, she addresses neither our political prejudices 
nor our sectarian feelings. With the most enlarged 
philanthropy, she cries ' To you, O men, I call, and 
my voice is to the sons of men.' Shall she not be 
heard? Her face beams with benignity. In her train 
follow Health and Peace and Prosperity. She even 
approaches the poor inebriate, whose habits are an 
iron collar around his neck, and bids him to be free. 
For she stands upon the broken sceptre and the 
shattered spear of the drunkard's captivity. 



37^ THE LIFE OP PROF. ICE M PER. 

' In faith and hope the world will disagree, 
But all mankind's concern is charity.' 

" The Bible is pre-eminent in forming the character 
of this age. This volume gives countenance and 
sustenance to the temperance cause. ' Look not 
upon the wine when it is red, when itgiveth its color 
in the cup : at last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth 
like an adder.' ' It is not for kings to drink wine, nor 
princes strong drink ; lest they drink and forget the 
law.' ' It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink 
wine, nor anything whereby thy brother is offended 
or is made weak.' * Woe unto him that putteth the 
bottle to his neighbor's lips.' 

" But not to the Christian only does the thought 
commend itself. I appeal to the philanthropist. I 
ask, Where, in the circle of your benevolence, can 
you do so much at so little cost as in promoting the 
interests of temperance .? When can you find an evil 
of sfreater masfnitude to be removed ? 

" General Washington charged us, in his Farewell 
Address, to cling to religion and pure morals as the 
only hope of our country. Here is a great national 
vice, and it draws with it a multitude of other vices, 
taking annually into the drunkard's grave many who 
would illustrate our country's annals by their genius, 
and be a blessing to mankind. Where, then, is the 
patriot who -will not give his countenance and co- 
operation to the temperance cause 1 Pause, then, fel- 
low-citizen, lover of your country, if you area friend 
to public virtue — pause before you contribute in any 
degree to the perpetuity of that vice with which all 
other vices are interlocked, and vices too with which 
are mingled 'all shapes, all forms, all modes of 



THE MORALIST. 379 

wretchedness and agony and desperate woe.' Com- 
merce, arts, wealth, and learning cannot save us. 
Egypt was learned and rich, but her pyramids tow- 
ered above a people morally degraded as the creep- 
ing things they worshiped. Much as demagogues 
may flatter us, our strength as a nation is but a rope 
of sand if we neglect the subject of public morals. 

*^ Could we go round to the graves of the thou- 
sands of drunkards that are annually buried in our 
country, and, standing at the head of the sepulchre, 
could we summon back the dweller there and look 
at his capabilities, we should find many a genius 
of the highest order, lost to society. The gifted 
Charles Lamb lamented that in the prime of life 
his mind was so ruined by intemperance that it was 
only at intervals that he could read and appreciate the 
productions of his earlier and sober years. A multi- 
tude of such men have been saved, and multitudes 
more will be saved to their country and the world, 
when the temperance cause shall have achieved its 
triumph. The late Dr. Morrison, founder of the 
Anglo-Chinese College and translator of the Bible 
into the Chinese language, was taken up, a little dirty 
boy, in the streets of London, and taken to the Sun- 
day-school. There his genius was developed, and he 
was saved from the vices of that city, with its five 
thousand licensed temples of drunkenness. God speed 
the cause, until many a Morrison shall rise to bless 
the Celestial Empire, and many a youth be saved, 
who, like Samuel J. Mills, shall say, ' We are little 
men, but the world must feel our influence.' 

" But, says some one, the argument against spirit- 
uous liquors is valid, but to exclude wine and cider 



380 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

is an unnatural and unscriptural extreme. To this 
I answer, ist. That the alcoholic stimulus, in what- 
ever form, is not necessary to health. 2 0(1, That there 
is danger in the popular use of them, especially in 
this country. 3rd, That their use would embarrass the 
cause of temperance, which every good man wishes 
to succeed. Lastly, That these carping fault-finders, 
who reproach us with going to an extreme, would 
reproach us still more, and with greater justice, if 
we stopped short of total abstinence. There will 
always be some croakers, whom none can please. 
They can throw more mud in an hour upon a good 
man, or a good society, than can be lived down in a 
year. A serious notice they do not require. They 
are like one John Lilburn, in the time of Cromwell, 
of whom it was said, that, if he were the only man in 
the world, so bent was he upon antagonism, that 
rather than lack occasion to dispute, John would 
quarrel with Lilburn, and Lilburn would quarrel 
with John. 

''What will be the influence of this reform, carried 
out, on the unwashed and uncombed and penniless, 
hereditarily diseased children of the drunkard ? Let 
no one despise the act of that little boy who intelli- 
gently takes his pen and pledges perpetual hate to all 
that can intoxicate, That act may be worth his use- 
fulness and respectability. Besides, children have 
their influence. A farmer who was fond of his glass, 
and who was accustomed also to furnish it to his 
hands, on finding that his work did not get on so well 
in consequence of this practice, determined to buy off 
his laborers during harvest, by giving to every man 
a sheep. He did so, but continued to drink himself. 



THE MORALIST. 38 1 

One day, when he had been congratulating himself 
on the improved state of his farm, since the abandon- 
ment of the use of liquors, he was about to take a 
drink himself, when one of his little boys said to him, 
* Father, would not you better take a sheep too ? ' 
He set down his glass, and drank no more. 

' A grain of corn an infant hand 
May plant upon an inch of land, 
Whence twenty stalks may spring, and yield 
Enough to stock a little field. 
The harvest of that field might then 
Be multiplied to ten times ten, 
Which, sown thrice more, would furnish bread 
With which an army might be fed.' 

" Shall young men refuse to co-operate in the tem° 
perance cause ? With them especially it is a matter 
of personal safety, no less than of benevolent effort. 
Dissipation in some form is the besetting sin of 
youth. I hazard nothing when I say that the young 
man accustomed to take his social glass stands upon 
slippery places. Oh, the self-confidence, how ill- 
founded ! Go to the loathsome drunkard, that being 
who has made himself the outcast of all things. You 
will often find him the wreck of an amiable heart 
and a lofty spirit. He was nursed tenderly as you 
have been. In childhood his cheek was impearled 
in many a mother's warm tear. As he grew to man- 
hood, dignity sat upon his brow, and energy, nerving 
his manly step, made many a tear of apprehension 
to set to sparkle through the smile of parental inter- 
est. Yet his own self has been ruined, and the fond- 
est hopes have been blasted. The sword has pierced 
through the soul of the mother that bore him, has 



382 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

created that indescribable anguish which exclaims: 
^ Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold 
and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.' 
Is this a solitary instance ? Let your observation 
answer. Is it not rather one of those ten thousand 
shipwrecks of human character which lie strewn in 
wild, disastrous confusion upon the shores of time ? 

" But there is another motive. Not only are the 
personal interests of many a young man bound up 
in the temperance movement ; but where is the young 
man who is maturing a character, and does not design 
to accomplish large good to his fellow-men ? Ex- 
pansive benevolence is surely one of the firmest 
pillars of a desirable and useful character. Of 
course, in this argument I address young men who 
have some stamina of character. That youth whose 
highest ambition it is to tie the prettiest knot in his 
cravat is overshot in this appeal. But I address my- 
self to such as I love to educate, those who mean to 
be something and to do something. 

" ' In the world's broad field of battle,' what higher 
satisfaction could a soul possessed of such senti- 
ments desire, than the assurance that he had saved, 
by his influence, ^ some forlorn and shipwrecked 
brother, sailing o'er life's solemn main' ? This has 
been done in thousands of instances, and prevention 
better than cure is now the safety of a multitude 
of youth marching under our snow-white banner. 
Here is goodness twice blessed — in the recipient and 
in the bestower. Does no heavenly benediction rest 
on such an instrument.? ' They that be wise shall 
shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they 
that turn many to righteousness, as the stars, forever 
and forever.' 



THE MORALIST. 383 

'^ Finally, the cause commends itself to the ladies, 
and there I leave it. If they enter into its spirit, my 
work is more than done, my task more than accom- 
plished. I commend it to them, not in the cant 
phrase of fulson^.e flattery— I will not thus prostitute 
this occasion. Then my honesty might be suspected 
by all ladies of good sense. For, as the sensitive 
plant shrinks from the first approach of a rude hand, 

' So female virtue should from flatter}^ fly, 
And spurn the incense of its gilded lie.' 

"I go at once to that perennial fountain of sensi- 
bility which springs eternal in the female heart, and 
simply lay this object of benevolence at her feet, as- 
sured it will not go away unblest. 

'' I moreover appeal to your righteous indignation. 
Woman has suffered the curse causeless from intem- 
perance. The rose has withered from her cheek, and 
sorrows untold have* desolated her spirit, because 
her husband or father or son has made himself a brute. 
Let her now rise, in the majesty and fearlessness of 
injured innocence, and the cause /////j-/ go forward. 

"In savageism and immorality woman is a slave. 
But she rides in the car of civilization and moral 
improvement. She shines in peerless beauty only, 
where the highest moral virtue prevails. Woman 
must co-operate in the world's redemption. She will ; 
and when the darkness of moral death shall have 
fled away, the philosophical reader of history will 
look, page after page, upon the influence of woman's 
still and small but potential voice." 

In this address we know not which most to ad- 
mire, its eloquent beauty, its decided and lofty 
principles, or its enlightened conservatism. 



CHAPTER XX, 



THE CHRISTIAN. 



" Life and religion are one, or neither is anything : I will not 
say that neither is growing to be anything. Religion is no way 
of life, no show of life, no observance of any sort. It is neither 
ihe food nor the medicine of being. It is life essential."— 
GhORGE MacDonald. 

We have now come to that which is the founda= 
tion, the shaft, and the capstone of the character 
which has it. It is the warp and woof of the web of 
life. As George MacDonald says, it is the essential 
life itself. Religion is, and ought to be, and must 
be, in and through and under and over every char- 
acter, of which it is a true and active element. 

We have already learned that Mr. Kemper, nour- 
ished from his infancy in the atmosphere of piety, 
under the tutelage of a' pious mother and a godly 
father, made a personal profession of the relig- 
ion of Christ, and joined the Presbyterian Church 
when he was but a youth. It was his original pur- 
pose to prepare himself for the gospel ministry, and 
with this design in view he entered Marion College. 
He went so far as to prepare notes of several ser- 
mons, and, although he was never formally licensed 
to preach, he delivered these sermons to public con- 
gregations. As heretofore stated, we have one of 



THE CHRISTIAN. 385 

these skeleton sermons. It is marked ''No. 2. Weak 
Faith," and headed by the memorandum, "Notes of 
a sermon preached at the camp-ground of New Prov- 
idence Church, August, 1838. " It was upon the text, 
'' Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye; but not 
to doubtful disputations" (Rom. 14 : i). We make 
a few extracts : " The apostle recognizes degrees in 
faith. Weakness of faith is no part of religion, but 
arises from the previous habits of thought and life 
exercised by the individual. ... So habits of scep- 
ticism will harass men whose judgment has been 
convinced of the truth of the Bible." He shows the 
peculiar weakness to which the Jew, the . heathen, 
and the man raised under Christian influences would 
be liable. As to the last he says : " A man in whose 
ears the Bible and religious truth have been rung 
from infancy will, if he neglect the truth, acquire a 
habit of insensibility which will trouble him after he 
commences the service of God." Again he says: 
"This weakness of faith is manifested when people 
say they are not fit to join tHe church, though they 
are conscious of sincerity and earnestness in forsak- 
ing sin. They erect a false standard as to what re- 
ligion is. They think the Christian is a perfect 
man, whereas he is the veriest babe 'at first, fed on 
milk by hand, hardly able to stand or walk, liable to 
be dashed over by any opposition. Their ideal 
Christian, if earth ever sees such a one, is to be 
looked for among those who have been long in the 
church, and have been exercised much in applying 
the knife to their sins and crucifying them constant- 
ly. The church is greatly in error on this subject. 
Every remarkable case of miserable persistence in 



386 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

rebellion, till the man is subdued as if in the storm 
of battle, is rung through the land, and these cases 
become the rule instead of the exception." 

For satisfactory reasons, he abandoned the purpose 
of entering the ministry. What these reasons were 
we do not fully know. Of one fact we have no 
doubt : that he was not at all influenced in his decision 
by any decrease of interest in Christianity as his own 
personal faith. His whole subsequent life proves 
this to be so. 

He transferred his membership from the church at 
Madison Court-House, Va., to that at the Marion 
College. When he removed to Boonville he car- 
ried his church letter with him. He was accordingly 
identified with the Boonville church from 1844 till 
his death, with the exception of the few years he 
spent at Fulton. From the first he was one of the 
active members of the congregation, and in 1855 was 
chosen a ruling elder. This office he held continu- 
ously until he died. 

Having given this brief statement of his church 
life, we shall now present some of his religious prin- 
ciples, and then set forth his religious habits. As to 
his religious faith but little need be said. He was a 
Christian theist ; firmly convinced of the existence 
of an eternal, personal God, he was equally so of the 
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as an in- 
spired revelation of His will. He believed in all the 
cardinal doctrines of evangelical Christianity, the 
Trinity of the Godhead, the divinity of Christ, His vi- 
carious atonement for man, and the eternal separation 
of the righteous and the wicked. There was only one 
point with regard to which he differed from the mass 



THE CHRISTIAN. 387 

of orthodox theologians. With respect to it his di- 
vergence was merely theoretical ; his practice was 
strictly orthodox. Moreover, we never heard him 
express his peculiar views on the point in question, 
and we find no allusion to it in his journals. 

He was a Presbyterian ; he believed in all the es- 
sential principles of the Westminster Confession of 
Faith and Form of Government. His acceptance of 
the office of elder required this. He was, therefore, 
a Protestant, a Paedo-baptist, and a Calvinist, and 
of course, in church government, a Presbyterian. 
While he v/as intelligently, decidedly, and firmly at- 
tached to these peculiar views, he had the utmost tol- 
eration and respect for those who thought quite 
otherwise. There was not a p;irticle of bigotry 
about him. The circle of his religious friendship 
embraced Christians of every shade of belief. The 
circle of his social friendship embraced every respect- 
able man and woman. 

Mrs. Kemper has directed our attention to his be- 
lief in special providences, and has given a number 
of instances in his life as illustrations. With regard 
to the doctrine of special providence, we may say 
that all who believe in general must also believe in 
special providence. As there can be no compounds 
without elements, and no elements without atoms ; 
so there can be no general management of the uni- 
verse which does not necessarily include a supervis- 
ing and directing attention to its details. There are 
some, however, who misinterpret this doctrine of 
special providence, as though it taught the continu- 
ance of the day of miracles. God does no miracles 
now. They are past, with the necessity for them. 



388 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

But that God so arranges the workings of His laws 
and the free actions of men as to promote the inter- 
ests of His people, sometimes in ways that are quite 
remarkable, and even to us incomprehensible, is not 
only reasonable but true. It is all done by the regu- 
lar operation of natural law, and by the free volition 
of voluntary agents, so that the divine promise is ful- 
filled, " There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall 
any plague come nigh thy dwelling/' Such was Mr. 
Kemper's belief, God's hand is in everything that 
concerns us. All providences are special providences : 
'' The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord." 

" In each event of life, how clear thy ruling hand I see ; 

Each blessing to my soul most dear, because conferred by Thee.'' 

There are some passages of our lives which mani- 
fest this overruling care of God more strikingly than 
do others. These we single out and call them spe- 
cial providences. Such they are; but God's kind 
and wise hand is no more in them than in the com- 
mon happenings of our daily lives. They are extraor- 
dinary, and as such they are adapted and designed 
to arrest our attention, and make us feel that our 
Father is watching over us. We shall record a few 
of these, given by Mrs. Kemper. When he was a boy 
he was accidentally thrown under the wheels of a four- 
horse wagon, loaded with chestnut rails, both of the 
wheels passing over his body. Though seriously in- 
jured, he recovered. While at Marion College, he 
was narrowly saved from drowning while crossing 
a stream with his aunt and her two sons. A loaded 
wagon again passed over him, as he was driving out 
to his farm near Boonville, rendering him insensible 



THE CHRISTIAN. 389 

for a time. On another occasion, in company with 
his wife and Mrs. Bocock, all three narrowly escaped 
serious injury, if not death, from the breaking of 
the harness as they were descending a steep, broken 
hill, and m.eeting a wagon in the narrowest place. 
During the vacation of 187 1, he was driving from 
Boonville to Marshall, with his wife, three small chil- 
dren, and Misses Annie and Maria McCutcheon, in his 
carriage, which was drawn by two small, well-trained 
mules. When they reached the Lamine River, Mrs. 
Kemper and the ladies and children left the carriage, 
on account of their fear of the soundness of the old 
boat which was to ferry them over. Mr. Kemper 
drove the mules into the boat. They then became 
quite restive, and, despite the fact that a man was 
holding them at their heads, as soon as they neared 
the opposite bank, " they leaped forward and went 
down where the river was thirty feet deep. What 
power was it that diverted sudden death from the 
driver ; that loosened every fastening, and left the 
carriage upon the boat with scarcely a fracture?" 

Twice the school buildings were set on fire by bad 
boys, who were boarding pupils ; and once a lamp 
exploded in a part of the house not observed by the 
family, and the resulting fire was discovered by a sick 
pupil, who was excused from his studies to go to his 
room. A similar accident was averted on another 
occasion by the opportune return of the pupils from 
church. In the cases of incendiarism, the flames were 
discovered in what we call accidental ways. 

In these things, the unbeliever sees nothing to call 
forth his gratitude to a Father above, who watches 
over His children ; but to the trustful spirit, who 



390 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

"can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye," and 
recognize in them the loving care of Him, " who, 
never weary, watches where His people be," they are 
occasions of grateful joy. 

" Behind the dim unknown 
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own." 

" All nature is but art unknown to thee ; 
All chance, direction which thou canst not see." 

As still further setting forth his religious princi- 
ples, we shall transcribe, from his commonplace 
books, some of the meditations w^hich he has re- 
corded. 

" If I suffer more in health, or in circumstances, or 
in reputation, than other men, I will be calm and 
peaceful, for I desei've it. I will get close to the hand 
rhat strikes." 

" Every meal to be a sacrifice to God." 

" A calm, huinble employment of my talents in 
doing good would be better than proudly standing 
oif on accotint of unworthiness, and trying to be good 
before serving God. Sorrow and darkness in such 
pride are a great blessings if they lead you to aban- 
don it." 

"Thoughts of past sins and their consequences 
should excite humility as to self, gratitude to God, 
freedom from all censoriousness toward fellow-m.en, 
cheerfulness as to all thrf^e. Thus the devil wnll be 
cheated out of the spoilji he has taken in the conflicts 
of early youth. With his slaves, early sins excite 
horror and apprehension, not the melting and joyous 
repentance of the Christian. The consequences of 
sin, in loss of property and health, excite shame, dis- 



THE CHRISTIAN. 391 

content, remorse. They shall, by God's grace, excite 
in me the opposite emotions, cheerful acquiescence in 
merited chastisement, and gratitude that no more is 
inflicted ; for more is deserved." 

"Special things in regard to which my character, 
habits, and temperament need to be changed — ist. Do 
every duty pleasantly, without hurry, ambition, or 
fatigue; 2nd, To cure myself of all anxiety for 
future support. These involve clear knowledge of 
my text- books and peace of God. So that all my 
rules are resolved into perfect abiding in Christ. This 
is the ^/zd" thfng; all else is scaffolding." 

''A heavenly countenance to be secured. Or, if 
this is impracticable, just so much as is the fruit of a 
heart filled with the love of God, and a mind thinking 
justly and serenely." 

" Judge of the love of God in the soul by keeping 
His commandments. Preserve such assurance and 
peace of conscience as will enable me to admonish 
and turn many from iniquity without the retort, 
'Physician, heal thyself.''' 

" Crucify and watch besetting sins: despondency, 
pride, unbelief, irritability." 

" Resolved to labor to make daily perceptible progress 
in the one thing needful, and then to ' let earth roll, nor 
feel her idle whirl.' " 

" He who pursues the one thing needful, with 
suitable proportionate interest, will attend to life's 
duties with relative subordination ; providing wisely 
the necessaries and comforts of life as a matter of duty, 
not of ambition or slavish pursuit." 

"'Resolved, that I will do in my worst frames 
what I see to be my duty in my best' — Edwards." 



392 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" The letter killeth, but the spirit maketh alive. 
All that relates to forms of worship, to posture of 
worship, perhaps to distinctive creeds, may be 
classed as belonging to the letter; while the spirit 
embraces the temper, the conduct., and that essential 
truth which is the basis of goodness. Hence, learn 
to lay less stress on the mere posture in worship and 
the appearance of a solemn countenance, and lay 
more stress on the mightier matters of the law, judg- 
ment, mercy, and faith." 

"He who makes God his all will be satisfied with 
that portion ; and he who does not, ougfit not to ex- 
pect to be satisfied." 

" So long as you are discontented with outward 
circumstances, or uninterested in daily denying your- 
self and taking up the cross, and following Christ ; 
so long as you cannot live above the world; so long 
as you are proud; so long as you look for your happi- 
ness in earth, where it is not to be found ; so long as 
you do not use stated prayer faithfully, and fasting 
for that kind that goes out by nothing else ; so long 
as a day passes by without growth in grace, or with- 
out being usefully employed; so long as the joy of 
the Lord is not your strength : just so long may you 
expect a clouded brow and the rod of affliction. 

" So long as you labor for a good character to feed 
your spiritual pride; so long as you try to get such 
a stock of sanctity and strength of character that it 
will go on by its own impulse; so long God will cast 
you into the mud. Your animalism and other grosser 
propensities will ne%ier die in this world. They nmst be d at ly 
CRUCIFIED, Then you nmst not be proud or self-complacent 
that you have nailed thejn to the cross j but go on to fight 



7^ HE CHRISTIAN. 393 

nianfully against your othej- more subtle spiritual foes: 
secret pride, secret forget/ ulness of God [tmbelief), secret 
discontent.^ or anything incompatible with the deepest humil- 
ity and the loftiest spirituality of mind. This last war- 
fare, against ' spiritual wickedness in high places,' 
is the one in which God will vouchsafe evidences of 
His acceptance, richer than can be won by monkish 
austerity or a thousand costly sacrifices. 0f^ jioi 

"In reading the Scriptures, there must be much 
time employed. There is a devotional reading ; a <r^?/^- 
prehensive r:Q2,^\Ti<g.^ embracing large portions ; a critical 
reading, suited to interest a Bible-class and answer 
their shrewdest questions in antiquities, history, 
prophecy, etc. ; and lastly, a reviewing. These ought, 
if possible, be attended to daily, and very largely on 
Sunday, securing an obvious weekly progress in 
knowledge and sanctification/' 

" I seem to be driven to try much more fasting and 
prayer (perhaps to try whole nights) before the 
demons will be expelled from my bosom. Absti- 
nence entire from animal food for one month and 
fasting twice a week would be a good experiment." 

'"The exercise of grace is its evidence.' — A. Alex- 
ander''' 

" A rational moral being may be all the time doi^ig 
duty., and consequently happy, or at least calm and 
peaceful, in sufferings even. ' For me to live is 
Christ.' Just tJiink of ///"^ being but an enactment of 
righteousness, a fulfilment of duty. You are always 
to be doing or suff"ering God's will. 'Life has its 
enjoyments, and is not the contemptible thing we 
make it, but heaven on earth, when it is conducted 
18 



394 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

OD right principles, directed to a right end, ?ind de- 
voted to the will of God. What would we have 
more, vv^hen the way to Heaven is through Heaven ; 
if quiet passions, regular desires, contented minds, 
pure wills, well-grounded hopes, holy longings, 
happy foretastes, communion with God, and recon- 
ciliation to death can make it so.' — Adams ^ in Compre- 
hensive Commentary . '' 

''Nothing is done in the best possible way unless 
in the spirit of prayer.'' 

" I must consider clearly and calmly, and keep a 
conscience void of offence, as to the frequency of my 
seasons of fasting or abstinence, and the length of 
time spent in secret prayer. Christ spent whole 
nights in prayer, and rose a great while before day 
to pray." 

" My life is so much of it spent in laboriously 
doing nothing that I must hasten and flee to the ark 
of safety, and not look back nor tarry in all the 
plain.'' 

" What is hope gocd for, if it is not an anchor to 
your soul, to keep it steady amid the cares of school 
and life .? How sweet it is to be kept steady by hope, 
not by slavish chains. The peace of God keep your 
heart and mind." 

"Religion involves self-denial, but not the unfeel- 
ing, cheerless, iron-hearted self-denial of the stoic. 
If we give up any indulgence, it is not with the oath 
of the drunkard, who swears tiiat iie will not drink 
for a limited time, and wants to drink all that time, 
even though he should abstain. Not so have I 
learned Christ. If He requires my pride to be cut 
up by the roots. He plants and nourishes humility, 



THE CHRISTIAN. 395 

which makes it easy to sacrifice pride. What is so 
sweet, w^hat knocks off all the rough corners of care, 
and makes a man so pleasant and approachable, as 
this grace of Humility ? What a bargain has the 
man made who has exchanged pride for humility ! 

' He that is down need fear no fall ; 
He that is low, no pride ; 
He that is humble ever shall 
Have God to be his guide.' " 

" ' Bene orasse est bene studinsse! " 

" ' The trivial round the common task, 
Should furnish all we ought to ask, — 
Room to deny ourselves, a road 
That leads us daily nearer God.' " 

" If the devotional season has been attended to, has 
there been a maintenance of the spij-it of the exercise, 
more than of the accustomed form ?" 

" The record of the past shows the truth of Cal- 
vin's remark, ' We should fall a hundred times a 
day, did not God uphold us.' 

" I task myself too much; and when I am bright 
in executing this task, I exhaust myself. Let my 
only task be^ seek first the kingdom of god. What 
this does not do for me, leave undone." 

^' My son Lewis dead. Three weeks ago to-day 
the little darling slept, as we believe, in Jesus. 

' Our embraces will be sweet, 
At the dear Redeemer's feet, 
When we meet to part no more, 
Who have loved.' 

The briny tears do not cease to fall, but I do not 
repine. Even so, Father. " 



396 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" A well-regulated life must have unity ^ a great 
central principle^. Allegiance to God is the great 
law needed. 

"To be a great man, one must have 2. great object. 
God has not left great objects to the favored few. 
Every humble Christian has an object greater than 
the jurist, the statesman, the orator, the scholar, or 
the mere divine. ' He that ruleth his spirit is greater 
than he that taketh a city..' Cicero makes Caesar 
greater in forgiving an enemy, and thus conquering 
himself, than in all his previous victories. They are 
amusing themselves with toys, whose highest am- 
bition is earthly greatness." 

" How beautiful is self-denial on the page of the 
Bible, 'that book of ultimate truths in morals! ' 'If 
any man be my disciple, let him deny himself, and 
take up his cross, and follow me. ' " 

These extracts, which might be greatly multiplied, 
sufficiently indicate the high tone of his Christian 
principles, and are many of them maxims, which 
show an advanced stage of Christian experience. 
We are now to show how he realized these principles 
in his life. The Westminster divines say, " Truth is 
in order to goodness." This is undoubtedly its ul- 
timate design. It is one of the sad anomalies of sin, 
thftt this design is not always reached. Paul speaks 
of those who " hold the truth in tiwighteousness'^ — an 
orthodox creed with an heretical life. They know the 
truth, but they love the lie. But we shall find no 
such contradiction between Mr. Kemper's faith and 
his practice. 

As to Mr. Kemper's religious life, its fundamental 
habit was a daily, reverent, close study of the Script- 



THE CHRISTIAN. 397 

Lires. There are few theologians who are as well 
versed in the Bible as was he. It was his daily study 
for fifty years. During forty years of this period he 
probably gave an average of an hour a day to it. 
This would be equivalent to five years' constant study 
eight hours a day, every day of the week. We can 
well see that, as a result, a man of his successful 
habits of study must have amassed an extraordinary 
amount of information as to the Bible in that time. 
He used the " Comprehensive Commentary" as a con- 
stant help. He read the New Testament critically 
in the original Greek and in the Latin. These he 
taught his pupils. 

He studied the Bible largely for its mere literary 
merits. To him it was surpassingly interesting for 
these reasons. Like Sir Isaac Newton, he spent 
weeks in the study of the genealogical tables of 
Genesis. They were to him the key to ethnology 
and to ancient history. He made himself thorough- 
ly familiar with the antiquities and geography of the 
Scriptures. He adopted the opinion of Sir William 
Jones, that the Bible contained more sublime poetry 
than all other books put together. The Proverbs 
were to him an inexhaustible mine of practical wis- 
dom. Not a day passed that he did not find an op- 
portunity to use some of them in the management of 
the school. The morality of the Bible he made the 
basis of his own conduct and the standard for his 
pupils. 

But Mr. Kemper read the Scriptures devotionally. 
While he admitted their literary excellences, he did 
not forget that these were but the outer casket ; that 
the jewel was within. The Bible was to him God's 



398 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Word, and he read it daily as a communication from 
the Heavenly Father to his soul. He took it to be 
the nourishment, the bread, the strength of his spirit, 
in its true and higher life. He realized that '^ Man 
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 
proceedeth from the mouth of God." The Bible 
was, therefore, more to him than the gold of Ophir 
or the jewel of the mine. It was to his eager, loving, 
trustful spirit the very representative of God, the 
vicar of Christ. He therefore sought it as the tryst- 
ing-place of his soul with the Saviour. 

Mr. Kemper was also pre-eminently a man of 
prayer. No one who ever heard him as he led the 
devotions of the sanctuary could doubt this. There 
are some men who pray as if they were strangers to 
God and to His worship. There are many more 
whose language is a collection of unfelt, formal ut- 
terances, with no more life or spirit than the Chinese, 
who turns out his prayers with a crank. Such peo- 
ple do not pray, in public or in private. They never 
have a season of real, face-to-face communion with 
God. With Mr. Kemper it was undoubtedly other- 
wise. When he prayed, every hearer felt "that he and 
God were friends : the one as a loving Father, the 
other as an humble, trustful child. This country has 
probably never had a greater mind than Dr. Charles 
Hodge. He was remarkable in his public prayers. 
He seemed, like Moses on the mount, talking face to 
face with God ; and many a time the skin of his face 
did shine as his wrapt spirit engaged in this sweet and 
holy communion. 'Twas even so with Mr. Kemper. 
Frequently it seemed as though the cup of his bless- 
ing ran over, as he pleaded for himself and others ; 



THE CHRISTIAN. 399 

and his tremulous voice and tear-filled eyes beto- 
kened the sweet and awful nearness of his approach 
to the mercy-seat. Such public prayers told plainly 
of similar seasons of earnest and successful wrest- 
ling with God in the privacy of the closet. They 
were the overflow of the fountain, whose source was 
down deep in the affectionate and trustful reverence 
of his soul. 

He has left on record, in his journals, several prayers 
which were expressive of his desires at the time they 
were prepared. We shall transcribe one of these : 

" O Lord, the Father of my spirit, hear me in ray 
distress. Thou callest Thyself the Father of the spir- 
its of all flesh. I own and rejoice in my paternity. 
But I have grievously departed from Thee, have lost 
the lineaments of the divine character, and have been 
a ' prodigal son.' My distress is great, but less than 
I deserve. My vanity, pride, obstinacy, want of gov- 
ernment of the tongue, want of the spirit of prayer, 
want of love to God, and utter uselessness in the 
church of which I have been so long a member — 
these sins naturally produce sorrow, disappointment, 
shame, and remorse. 

" Life is far spent, and when its history is written, 
O my God ! how shall I appear ? What useful work 
have I accomplished ? What sinner have I saved 
through grace ? What work of charity have I set on 
foot 1 What kindly and blessed influence have I ex- 
erted t Whom have I made happier .? What at- 
tainments in grace have I made .'* 

" O Thou, who knowest me altogether ; whose eye 
has followed my path since Thou gavest me my being ; 
who seest the wreck of my health, the depression of 



400 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

my spirit, the wounds in my heart, which sin has 
made: O Thou 'Physician of souls,' heal my sin- 
sick spirit. ' Revive my soul with grace/ Chase 
away my doubts. Invigorate my health, the health 
of all my powers, and make me a living sacrifice for 
Thee. O Jesus, Thou meek and lowly Teacher, pity 
a scholar, who has wrought folly and reaped disap- 
pointment and wretchedness. Teach me effectually. 
Take away every false hope, every impure desire, 
every unworthy motive, every imprudent means of 
compassing my ends, and give me that purity of 
heart which Thou hast blessed, and that freedom 
from anxious care which Thou hast enjoined, 

"Enable me to abide in Thee, in my spirit and my 
conduct. Give me an assured hope. Give me a spirit 
of prayer, and enable me to watch unto prayer, and 
for answers to prayer. 

' ' Are not all these petitions according to Thy will "^ 
Hast Thou said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye my face 
in vain .? No, Lord, Thy promise is firm as the ever- 
lasting mountains. He who asks receives. Then 
heal me, and heal me now, if now Thou canst. ' Why 
should I wander an alien from Thee ? ' Sin is a 
monster in the universe of God, A state of sin is not 
the natural state of things, when we look at man's orig- 
inal structure. Then slay this foe of God and man, 

" I cast him out. I engage here to be Thine ; but all 
my strength is in Thee. Enable me to fight, to con- 
quer, and to grow daily in grace and wisdom. Help 
me especially this week on which I to-day enter. 
May it be a week of recovery, of revival in my soul, 
of prosperity in spiritual wisdom, of redeeming the 
time, of fulfilling all Thy pleasure. Oh, may study 



THE CHRISTIAN, 401 

notinterfere with health, or devotions, or with teach- 
ing. May I be exceedingly joyous in all my tribula- 
tions. 

" Now, Lord, I feel relieved during the progress of 
this prayer. Glory to Thee, who liftest up those 
who are cast down ; who healest the broken in heart 
and bindest up their wounds ; who hearest while I 
am yet speaking. Now I am Thine. Oh what a 
portion have I ! May it be my never-failing portion. 
May I continually resort to my strong tower, break 
the chain of evil habits, and stand free before God. 

" Bless me especially in my Biblical studies. May I 
be prepared to teach my Bible-class to their edifica- 
tion, instruction, and comfort, not to the admiration 
of my wisdom. May I be thoroughly prepared, not 
in the letter only but in the spirit of my next lessons ; 
and may those who have been members of the class 
be more faithful in their studies and in their attend- 
ance. May I know how to instruct my boarding 
scholars each morning, so as to interest, teach, and 
fit them for heaven. May I, in assisting them in 
the preparation of their Sunday-school lesson, fur- 
nish them for an honorable and pleasant recitation 
each Sabbath morning. 

" May my private reading increase in interest and 
profit. May the Greek Testament abide in my heart 
and in my affections. 

" May I gain this week the confidence and love of 
all my pupils, especially the disaffected and the 
smaller ones. 

^'Help, Lord, with that power which is irresisti- 
ble ; and Thine shall be the praise forever. Amen." 

Another marked religious habit of his was fasting. 



402 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

This he practised in both forms, in abstinence from 
special kinds of food, and, at certain seasons, from 
all kinds of food. He had his req-ular and his occa- 
sional days of fasting. He was fully persuaded that 
this practice was beneficial to him, bodily, mentally, 
and spiritually. His main design in it was spiritual, 
to induce humility, a sense of dependence upon God, 
and weanedness from- the world, and preparation for 
a higher sphere of religious consecration. Such is 
the connection between the soul and the body that 
the mortification of the latter may be made to con- 
duce to the purification and elevation of the former. 
For this reason the Saviour has said, " The days will 
come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from 
them, and then shall they fast." In times of spirit- 
ual depression, when we are called to mourn our 
coldness and separation from the favor of God, when 
the Bridegroom is not with us; then fasting is a 
necessity, a duty, a privilege, a means of grace. 
Those who most need it least practise it. There 
has seldom been a Christian, who has been remark- 
able, either for his piety or his usefulness, who has 
not made it a part of the discipline of his soul. It is 
to be regretted that it has so largely fallen out of the 
habits of the Church. With Mr. Kemper it was pos- 
sibly excessive. He may have carried it to an ex- 
treme. We believe that he did, and that his health 
and usefulness were injured by it. A man whose 
digestive powers are impaired requires regularity, 
and must, therefore, employ fasting as a spiritual 
discipline very judiciously. 

Mr. Kemper was conscientiously faithful in his 
attendance upon all the services of the sanctuary. 



THE CHR'ISTIAN. 403 

His punctuality was wonderful, when we consider 
his delicate health and his excessive labors. There 
was no one who was more regularly in his pew than 
he— Sunday morning, Sunday evening, at the week- 
ly prayer- meeting. He did this for his own sake. 
He loved to be at the house of God, to engage in His 
worship. A day in the courts of the Lord w^as to 
him better than a thousand in the tents of wicked- 
ness. He needed to be there for his own spiritual 
life and health, and he refreshed himself from the 
pure waters that issued there in prayer and praise 
and instruction. He did this for the sake of others ; 
for the encouragement of his pastor, whose heart 
was cheered and whose hands upheld by his presence ; 
for an example to his brethren, over whom the Holy 
Ghost had made him a bishop, and that he might aid 
them in the services of the sanctuary. He did it 
especially for Christ's sake, in obedience to His com- 
mand, and that he might thus publicly testify his 
trust in Him, who never neglected a duty Fie owed 
to us. 

Mr. Kemper was a faithful teacher in the Sunday- 
school. So long as we were with him, and to the 
last, he never failed. We believe that he never 
superintended the regular Church school. He pre- 
ferred to teach, and conscientiously and laboriously 
prepared himself for it. At times he taught an adult 
congregational Bible-class in the afternoon of Sun- 
day. After he became interested in his farm (which, 
next to his family and school, was his pet), he estab- 
lished a Sunday-school out there, and superintended 
and taught it regularly every Sabbath afternoon. The 
treasures of Biblical and spiritual knowledge which 



404 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

he had amassed he thus dispensed with a free and 
loving hand, to others ; and doubtless many at the 
last day will rise up and call him blessed, as having 
led them to Christ, or neai-er to Him, 

Mr, Kemper was a generous Christian. He freely 
and bountifully gave of what the Lord had intrusted 
to him. To the Church in her various enterprises, 
and to the poor, he was the Master's almoner, 

Mr. Kemper w^as a humble Christian. He never 
felt that he had any piety of which to boast. His 
journals sigh with the language of penitence and 
self-humiliation. He quotes as appropriate to him- 
self the remark of Bradford, as, pointing to a worth- 
less drunkard, he said : '^ But for the grace of God, 
there goes John Bradford/' The tree of piety never 
reaches heaven whose roots do not go down deep 
into the soil of lowly contrition. 

Mr, Kemper was a spiritual Christian, His relig- 
ion did not consist merely of his creed and the outer 
observances of the Church — reading the Bible, prayer, 
fasting, etc. His was the hidden man of the heart, a 
life hid with Christ in God. The externals of re- 
ligion, so abundantly and so carefully attended to, 
were with him but the outer exhibits of this inner 
spiritual life, 

Mr, Kemper was a useful Christian, He did not 
live for himself. He was not a disciple of Jesus se- 
cretly. ''Where is thy brother.?" was a question 
which echoed and re-echoed in his heart. Like Abou 
Ben Adhem, he loved his fellow-men. Like the 
Master, he was ever going about to do them good. 
His was a consecrated life. Self was crucified, and 
he lived to honor Christ, in working earnestly, ardu- 



THE CHRISTIAN. 405 

ously, intelligently, successfully for his fellow- 
men. 

" I venerate the man whose heart is warm, 
Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life, 
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof 
That he is honest in the sacred cause." 



CHAPTER XXL 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 



" Exigi monumentum aere perennius 
Regalique situ pyramidum altius ; 
Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens 
Possit diruere, aut innumerabilis 
Annorum series etfugatemporum." 

Horace. 

" I STILL live," said the dying statesman. '' By it he, 
being dead, yet speaketh," was written, by the pen 
of inspiration, of the shepherd, who fell, six thousand 
years ago, the first martyr to the cause of conscience. 
This is the land of the dying and the dead. All that 
pass beyond it, across the river, enter the evergreen 
fields of immortality- There are some, however, that 
never die. Not Enoch alone, nor Elijah, who did not 
pass through the portals of death to enter the city 
which hath foundations. There are many others 
that have not died and will never die. Adam and 
Noah, and Abraham, and Jacob, and Moses, and 
David, and Isaiah, and Paul, and Homer, and Soc- 
rates, and Plato, and Aristotle, and Cicero, and 
Virgil, and Confucius, and Brahma, and Zoroaster, 
live on this earth to-day, more really and more in. 
fiuentially than when their bodies could be seen and 
heard by fellow-mortals. No material element or 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 407 

force has perished since creation's morn. Is spirit 
and spiritual force less indestructible ? Says the 
Roman orator, " Nemo paiaim diu vixit, qui virtutis 
perfected peifecto functus est nmnere,'" Montgomery 

sings : 

" When the good man yields his breath 
(For the good man never dies)." 

Men live in the deeds that perpetuate them. Some 
build colossal fortunes, and through these for a few 
generations, possibly, they are still a factor in the 
lower plane of human activity. Some mount the 
red horse, and preside over the carnival of slaughter ; 
and thus live, blessed by the victors and cursed by 
the vanquished. Some live in the political institu- 
tions they have devised and advocated and estab- 
lished, like Burke, in the enfranchisement of the 
Catholics, and Madison, in the Constitution of this 
country. Some live in the works of genius they have 
produced, the truths they have uttered, the beauties 
and sublimities they have realized, as Copernicus, 
Newton, Bacon, Angelo, Raphael, Mozart, Milton. 
Some live in the charities they have inaugurated : 
Alfred, Yale, Harvard, Vassar, GTrard, Peabody. 
Are not such men more truly alive to-day, more in- 
fluential in the present, moving, progressive world, 
than one thousand millions of those who are now 
breathing their useless breath upon the earth ? 

The educator can never die. If he trains one single 
soul aright, that soul will perpetuate, and, it may be, 
even widen the potential circle of his influence. If 
he train a thousand, each of these will be a centre, 
a radiating point, whence his power will reach to ten 
times or one hundred times as many more. So it 



40 8 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

will go on, on, till the latest generation of men will 
be the purer and the happier, for the moral, elevating 
force which he introduced centuries before. 

Mr. Kemper lives to-day, and Avill never die. He 
lives in the work wdiich he did in the Church ; in the 
unknown and numberless charities which blessed 
the poor and the stricken ; in the power which he 
exerted over his fellow-teachers ; in the model school 
which he perfected and intrusted to fitted men ; and 
in the lives of two thousand pupils, whom he devel- 
oped, controlled, and directed to usefulness and 
virtue. He was a "maker of men"; and the men 
whom he made, and enlightened, and elevated, and 
cheered, gather around him now, to put the victor's 
chaplet upon his revered and honored brow. These, 
laurels will make a triple crown. The first will be 
composed of evergreens, furnished by appreciative 
friends. The second, of the Rose of Sharon and the 
Lily of the Valley, intertwined by the loving hand 
of the pastor from whose lips he gladly received the 
word of life. The third will be a cluster of immor- 
telles, presented by those who owed him the heaviest 
debt of gratitude, his pupils. 

From the Boonville Advertiser.^ on the occasion of 
his death : — ■ 

" A city is wrapped in mourning. Thousands of throbbing 
hearts felt the shock of the lightning stroke of death that laid him 
low. His name was a tower of strength ; his intellect was of 
God's noblest handiwork ; his private life was purity ; his public 
work a benefaction ; and he dwelt in the hearts of his fellow- 
citizens. . . . From the [founding of this school to the day of 
his death, Mr. Kemper, though always assisted by a corps of 
competent teachers, was the active ruling spirit. By his extreme 
individuality, great force of character, and profound learning, he 



THE VICTOR CROWNED, 409 

succeeded in building up for the school a reputation, we might 
say national in its scope. For years past its pupils have come 
from all parts of the Union, and its graduates are scattered through- 
out the length and breadth of the land. Many of them occupy 
prominent positions in the social, business, and political world, 
and all of them acknowledge with gratitude their obligations to 
their Alma Mater." 

From the Boonville Topic : — 

" The pupils under his tuition, through the many 3'ears of his 
teaching, number many thousands ; and all over Missouri and 
the States and Territories farther west are representatives of this 
school in the professions and other honorable callings. . . . He 
was one of the most public-spirited, generous, and kind-hearted 
persons we have ever known, and many a recipient of his unos- 
tentatious charity will revere his memory and weep over his 
grave. As a good citizen, as one to whom the education of the 
young could be safely trusted, as a member of the church and a 
Christian gentleman, and as a friend to the needy, he will be 
sadly missed in our community." 

Resolutions of the State Teachers' Association, 
adopted at its regular session, June, 1881 : — 

" Whereas, In the Providence of God, our brother and faithful 
co-worker. Prof. F. T. Kemper, has been removed from us by the 
hand of death, therefore, be it resolved by the Missouri State 
Teachers' Association : 

" 1st, That, in thedeathof Prof. F. T. Kemper, our Association 
has lost a faithful and useful member, society an honored and 
influential citizen, the cause of education a valuable and talent- 
ed teacher, and the Church a noble defender of the faith. 

" 2nd, That we extend to the bereaved family and friends of our 
deceased brother our warmest sympathy." 

Prof. George L. Osborne, President of the Normal 
School at Warrensburg, pending the foregoing reso- 
lutions, said : — ■ 



4IO THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" It has been my pleasure and good fortune for six years past 
to associate with Prof. Kemper in educational work. I found in 
him a most cordial colaborer. He was ever ready with the kind- 
ly smile, the encouraging word, the firm grasp of the hand, to 
help those who needed help. The grand old Commonwealth of 
Virginia has been eulogized as the mother of statesmen and 
Presidents, but she never produced a nobler son than was Prof. 
Kemper. The grandest monument that can be erected to human 
greatness, he has built with his own hands. Its foundations lie 
deep in the affections of his fellow-citizens,* its superstructure 
rises through forty years of self-sacrificing devotion to the cause 
of human progress." 

From the Missouri Teacher^ Kirksville, Mo. : — 

" His departure has saddened many a heart, and cast a shadow 
of gloom over many a household. A good man has taken his 
departure, and we shall greatly miss him. Prof. Kemper has 
been identified with the educational interests of our State for a 
number of years, and the work he has done will not soon perish. 
He has built a monument in the hearts and lives of many noble 
men that will not soon decay. Many rise up to bless him." 

Captain James H. Rollins, U. S. A., of Columbia, 
a patron, to his son at the school : — 

"I feel that we have lost a dear friend, and the cause of ed- 
ucation one of its best defenders and workers. Mr. Kemper 
was a manly and good man, and a great educator. He had 
strength and firmness without ostentation, or any disposition for 
parade and show. He looked to the substance of all things in 
this life, rather than the shadow. In your pathway through life, 
you will rarely, if ever, come across another man with so high a 
sense of duty, and, at the same time, with so much ability to per- 
form it rightly and properly under all circumstances. You should 
forever keep his memory green, and take his character and life as 
a model and guide, and example to imitate and follow." 

Mrs. Captain James H. Rollins, of Columbia, Mo., 
writing to Mrs. Kemper: — 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 411 

" I do not know of any one, outside of my immediate family, 
whose death could have touched my heart so nearly ; for I had 
learned to love and admire Mr. Kemper so much. We have said 
so often, since his death, that it must be such a sweet, comforting 
thought to you to feel that his life here had heen so good, and 
noble, and perfect." 

Mrs. DsWitt C. Lionberger, of Boonville, Mo., a 
friend : — 

" A pillar of strength to his own family, an example to his fel- 
low-laborers for Christ, and a model of social and philosophic 
spirit to the community. Strong in Christ, and yet humble and 
trusting as a little child." 

Rev. A. J. Sparks, editor of the Sunday- School Rec- 
ord, Sedalia, Mo. : — 

" Prof. Kemper was one of the noblest and best of men. Mis- 
souri has never had an equal to him as a teacher." 

Mrs. E. McCutchen, of Higginsville, Mo., a life-long 
intimate friend : — 

" As much as I admired him for his many good and noble 
qualities, I cannot find words to express my admiration of his 
home life." 

Mrs. Charlotte Campbell, of Kansas City, a pat- 
ron : — 

" I think in him, more than in others, the power of God was 
manifested in the inner man ; but it was necessary to live with 
him, and see him in every turn of life, to know how beautifully 
the Spirit was moulding him into the image of his Master." 

W. W. Thornton, Esq., of Shelbyville, 111., to his 
son at the school : — 

"While there are many educators of youth in the United 
States, there was but one F. T. Kemper." 



412 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER, 

Hon. James S. Rollins, of Columbia, Mo., the presi- 
dent of the curators of the State University : — 

" While his place can never be filled as a teacher and educator 
of men, he has left behind him a most enviable reputation as a 
good citizen, a gentleman, and a Christian." 

Thomas T. Slack, an old friend, of Jefferson, 
Texas : — 

"As an educator and as an exemplary Christian gentleman, he 
had but few equals." 

Rev. B. T. Lacy, D.D., of Sedalia, Mo,, Stone- 
wall Jackson's chaplain, a patron : — 

" It was my sad privilege to attend the funeral of our noble and 
lamented friend, Prof. F. T. Kemper. The loss is as great as 
Missouri could have sustained in the death of any one of her dis- 
tinguished and useful citizens. He was the best educator of this 
country, and has accom-plished a grand work. Some lasting me- 
morial of such a man and such a work should be prepared." 

Rev. J. M. Curtis, for some yearsrector of Christ's 
Church, Boonville, Mo., to Mrs. Kemper : — 

" I felt that I must tell you, how (beginning his acquaintance 
with a slight and perhaps half-unconscious prejudice, and always 
seeing many important questions of life from a widely different 
standpoint), the broad grasp of his intellect, his modest yet ac- 
curate scholarship, his manly courage, his firm Christian faith, and 
his tender Christian spirit, had so impressed me, the few years 
that I had known him, as to make my own life abetter and more 
earnest one, through the influence of his example." 

Miss Carrie Bliss, of Brattleboro, Vt. , a friend : — 

" I loved him as one of my best and truest friends. I think 
every one, brought into contact with him, must have loved and 
honored him. I am reminded of the following lines, which- seem 
peculiarly applicable to him : * This brave and tender man, in 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 413 

every storm of life, was oak and rock; but, in the sunshine, he 
was vine and flower. He Vvras the friend of all heroic souls. He 
climbed the heights^ and left all superstitions far below ; while 
on his forehead fell the golden dawning of a grander day. He 
sided with the weak, and with a willing hand gave alms, and with 
a loyal heart he faithfully discharged all public trusts. He added 
to the sum of human joy, and were every one for whom he did 
some loving service to bring a blossom to his grave, he would 
sleep to-night beneath a wilderness of flowers.' " 

Rev. James H. Brookes, D.D., of St. Louis, in a 
letter to Mr. Kemper: — 

" I am free to say, I have never seen a teacher who impress- 
ed me so favorably with his style, his scholarship, and his enthu- 
siasm. I can only indicate my estimate of your ability by declar- 
ing that I would esteem it a very great privilege, did the pressing 
duties of my ministry allow me, to spend at least a year in the 
study of that plentiful and splendid language, the Greek, under 
your instructions. I have often said to others, and am willing to 
say to you, that I would rather commit a son of mine to your tui- 
tion than to send him to any college in the land." 

The following extended tribute comes from the 
graceful pen of the late Rev. John S. Grasty, D.D., 
the biographer of the saintly McPheeters : — 

" F. T. KEMPER AS HE APPEARED TO ONE WHO LOVED HIM. 

" There are deaths which create a sad vacuum in a particular 
home circle, but are felt little beyond. There are deaths, again, 
which cast a shadow upon an entire community, and cause mourn- 
ing in many families. There are deaths, once more, that send a 
pang throughout an entire commonwealth, and even farther. Of 
this latter class was the unexpected departure of F. T. Kemper, 
the widely known, and deeply loved, and sincerely honored teach- 
er, scholar, and Christian gentleman, who presided over the school 
called by his name, and located in the town of Boonville, Mo. 
His decease leaves a vacancy which may not be filled for several 
generations. Of a truth, the exact like of such a man can be 



414 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

found only now and then, at intervals of time and in places wide- 
ly apart. 

" Born in the same Stale with Mr. Kemper, I have known the 
family stock from boyhood. The Kempers were a people of the 
highest respectability and of pecuniary independence there in 
Madison County, Virginia. Industry, force, desire for practical, 
useful knowledge were general characteristics. The solid rather 
than the gaudy was preferred by members of the house, as I have 
personally known. Ex-Gov. James M. Kemper, a younger broth- 
er, was a classmate when we were fellow-students at Washing- 
ton College, Va. I can recall the period of his arrival at the insti- 
tution. He was clad, not in the finest of French cloth, nor did his 
apparel and manner indicate a youth who had come to impress 
his fellows by means of a glittering wardrobe, and through brilliant 
and showy ways. On the contrary, the boy of fifteen summers wore 
a neatly-fitting suit of home-made jeans, and from hat to shoe 
both the youth and his clothes seemed to say, 'We are here for 
work.' And so it proved. For from the first day onward young 
Kemper labored faithfully, gained ground steadily and surely 
until the prize was insured. When the college days were over 
we corresponded for a season, but this kind of intercourse (as 
is usually the case) gradually fell away until it entirely ceased. 
Nevertheless, I watched the upward progress of this valued friend, 
as he rose step by step until reaching the highest summit of hon- 
or within the limit of his native State. Nor was there ever a 
charge of dishonesty, or of indirection even. The whole was 
accomplished by ' square work,' such as conscience and the great 
Master approve. I have ventured to say this much about the 
younger brother, because he and F. T. Kemper were by nature 
so much alike. And as I bad known the one in boyhood and 
afterward, it did not require years or months to mark those points 
of character which individualized the other. 

" F. T. Kemper settled in Missouri about thirty-five years ago, 
and selected teaching for his life-work. The personal acquaint- 
ance that I had with him did not begin till the summer of 1873. I 
had received an invitation to address the Society of Inquiry con- 
nected with Westminster College, and while in Fulton a message 
reached me from Mr. Kemper, which resulted in a visit to Boon- 
ville. An acquaintance then began which ripened into an ever- 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 415 

growing friendship. And as the relations between us, for the past 
six years especially, have not only been cordial but intimate, it 
would seem rrore than strange did I not seek to throw a simple 
flower, at least, upon the grave of my friend, now that death has 
hung a veil between, 

" That F. T. Kemper was a man of mark, that as an educator 
he greatly excelled, has been confessed for twenty-five years. 
Those who once smiled when he called himself the ' maker of 
men,' have long since admitted the claim, as pupils from the 
Kemper School have gone forth to fill offices of trust throughout 
the entire West. That the city and neighborhood in which he 
lived accepted him silently, or otherwise, as a leader of public 
thought, must have been obvious to all. That his daily walk in- 
spired universal confidence ; that the fathers themselves, who 
had been taught, and disciplined in the ' Kemper Family School/ 
whatever their experience there, preferred this school for their 
sons, is a fact which in itself points to the excellence and the 
enduring worth of the teacher at its head. 

" Still farther, whenever a person notably succeeds in any im- 
portant business, it is natural to inquire after the means and in- 
struments through which this success was attained. How then 
did this youn g emigrant begin at the bottom and build for himself 
a name ? Was it because the land was fresh, and the country 
invitingly open ? Ay, but the same opportunities were offered 
to scores and hundreds of compeers, who entered the race together, 
yet so began and ended their course as to make no sign ! Was 
it for the reason that our friend had wealth and powerful connec- 
ti6ns to help him in his task ? Not this ; for the amount of money 
at command was moderate, while young Kemper was a stranger 
in a strange land ! Was it on account of scholarship which his 
adopted State could not match ? Just here, again, many were his 
equals, while a few confessed superiors ! Were his intellectual 
gifts so brilliant that the multitude was charmed? Never did this 
teacher [lay claim to any quality that attracted by its glitter. 
Nevertheless, the rnan succeeded, and succeeded notably at his 
work. If I may be allowed to illustrate a person's character by 
an edifice and its proportions, I would point to a building whose 
foundations are broad, tough, and below frost. The sills are 
thick, strong, and without a flaw ; while the materials which enter 



41 6 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

inlo the house at every angle, are selected for substance and not 
for show. In all the structure, from corner to capstone, we find 
nothing for mere ornament— no paper make-believes, no Dolly 
Vardens — no pretended strength, no secret vveakness or deform- 
ity covered up and hidden by means of plaster or paint. But 
the house from bottom to top is honestly built — built for comfort, 
built for summer and winter, and with strength to resist storms. 

" Mr. Kemper was what we call a substantial man. He had a 
moral base of depth and breadth with which to begin. When- 
ever his calm judgment decided that a thought or act was wrong, 
from that moment onward he put it away. He might be mistaken 
in his decisions, but he loved the right, and looked for no ' fruit 
to be desired ' from any undertaking which was not founded on 
the truth. In his view, all lies, of whatever sort, must yield sor- 
row in the end. Hence in every undertaking he was conscien- 
tiously careful to look at the surroundings. Is it ' just, true, love- 
ly, and of good report? ' were questions unspeakably more vital to 
Mr. Kemper than the fairest promise of gold and silver from the 
mine. Indeed, our friend came into the world with all the ele- 
ments of a man, and these were developed as the years revolved. 
Here, then, was a part of that capital with which young Kemper 
began. 

" It has been said already that the school- room was the field in 
which Mr. Kemper chose to labor. By some, it may be, the rules 
laid down in this Family School were considered stern, if not 
needlessly severe. Yet, if the truth is fairly told, these regula- 
tions bore hardly upon no one who had the heart and the pluck to 
do right. This teacher, from his inmost soul, loathed shams, 
pretence, and everything false or perfunctory. The sorry boy 
who slighted the lesson, or the mean one who sought refuge in 
untruth or prevarication, was found, out and corrected. Thor- 
oughness was a motto for every class, and whenever the student 
exhibited diligence, courage, and honor, the Principal warmed 
toward such an one, and, If need arose, not only the heart but 
also the purse was open to help. 

" As man, and teacher, and Christian gentleman, Mr. Kemper 
stood pre-eminent at home — in the city of his adoption. There 
could not be found a respectable citizen in Boonville who did 
not regard as representative both the ' Family School ' and its la- 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 417 

borious, accomplished, and self-denying head. And yet the 
principal of this widely known and valued institution never took 
on airs, and no one ever saw him walking abroad as some lofty 
lord of the manor ! He seldom spoke of himself, and if at all, 
in" language strikingly modest. In intercourse with pupils and 
neighbors, courtesy and good-breeding always marked his bearing. 
Every inhabitant of the county knew him, and he never passed 
the humblest, poorest, or most ignorant without a sign of recog- 
nition. Blood will tell, and it was impossible for this well-bred 
Christian gentleman to tyrannize, rebuff, or be coarse, however 
conscious he might be of superiority and power, or however lowly 
and unfortunate the fellow-creature who stood in his presence. 
On the contrary, he felt it a Christian duty to cultivate friendliness, 
and this toward the community generally in which God had cast 
his lot. Hence it became a constant practice with him to make 
calls, if only of a few minutes, upon different households through- 
out the entire city. Especially did he go, and with a sympathetic 
heart and cheerfully helping hand, wherever affliction had entered 
or the dependent called for aid. And not even the loved and 
trusted wife of his bosom — so unostentatious were his deeds of love 
— could recount his ministries to the sorrowing or his gifts to the 
poor. His charity was abounding and his sympathies fresh and 
sweet. Nevertheless, in all that he did, he considered himself a 
steward. The inspired statement, " Ye are not your own, ye are 
bought with a price," was accepted in its fulness. Self-praise, 
therefore, from such a man was simply out of the question. Al- 
though the ' Kemper Family School,' all things considered, had 
been a splendid success, and notwithstanding it could point to a 
long roll of illustrious names among its alumni in science, poli- 
tics, and the learned professions, still the principal never boasted. 
Never did he entertain a guest with histories of his own great 
deeds, and point out the fine things his superior genius had dis- 
covered. He allowed his 'labors under the sun' to speak for 
themselves. And whatever might be the result of thoughtfully 
laid plans, no one ever heard him complain that the sowing had 
been his and the reaping another's. This man, with his great soul, 
was too happy to have hidden a few grains under the soil which 
should germinate, and yield sheaves to those who were to follow. 
His fully informed head and sanctified heart forbade the thought 
19 



41 8 - THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

of making self the theme. It was here, especially, that his early- 
social advantages, and educational training ' stood him in good 
stead,' He never forgot to be a gentleman. In the ' self-made 
man ' alone, can egotism be charitably excused. For whatever 
the privileges of after years, the lack of refined culture in youth 
is seldom, if ever, wholly repaired. Together with striking — 
and many times lofty — excellences in such persons, friends are 
forced to mourn the presence of pride, intolerance, and painful 
self-conceit. In the tree, although the root supplies the sap and 
the life, yet the fruit, sweet or sour, or a mean between the two, 
takes on its flavor from the nature of the graft." 

" Of Mr. Kemper as a church member and office-bearer in the 
house of God, what shall be said ? For surely a prince and a great 
man in Israel is fallen. His praise was in all the churches. He 
will be missed by the pastor whom he loved, by the associate elders 
who were accustomed to take sweet counsel with him, and by the 
Presbytery and Synod where his presence and influence were so 
sensibly felt. It was a privilege above price for a particular con- 
gregation to possess such a ruler. For there is not a point, in the 
whole domain of ecclesiastical work, where a laborer like Mr. 
Kemper does not leave a lasting sign. He was as regular in his 
attendance on the prayer-meeting as the pastor, and his petitions 
'at a throne of grace flowed from a full heart, and from an under- 
standing profoundly enriched by familiarity with the Word. For 
forty years, nothing short of serious sickness kept him from the 
Sabbath-school, while he delighted in the Bible-class, and studied 
the Scriptures as one who 'searches for hidden treasure.' And 
what a hearer he was, whenever the preacher entered the sanctu- 
ary with a message redolent of the truth and winged by the Spirit ! 
What minister of the gospel, preaching in his presence, cannot 
recall the lights and shadows that swept over his face as the am- 
bassador for Christ Avarned the ungodly or else pointed' the 
weary and heavy laden unto Him that gives rest. It is a grand 
thing to enter the pulpit when the preacher feels assured of a 
hearer like this! For," if there be nut another to hear, the well- 
beaten oil can by no means be lost. 

" Mr. Kemper was not only a wise and safe counselor in the 
session, but joined the pastor heartily in watching for souls. For 
if a case of religious interest occurred in the flock, he was sure to 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 419 

find it out. If any were tempted or perplexed, he could make 
time to see them, and point out these tried and troubled ones to 
One who giveth strength. As the head of a far-famed school, 
with its reputation older than belonged to any contemporary — 
with a name now become a household word over the State — this 
honored Nestor of Missouri teachers did not think it beneath 
him, from any point of view, to visit ihe fatherless and the widow ; 
to enter the homes, however humble, of the sorrowing, and to 
mingle his tears with those who, though mean in the eyes of the 
self-constituted great, are nevertheless often rich in faith and 
' heirs of the kingdom.' Nor did he draw back when the trans- 
gressor needed his care. For he remembered the words and the 
ways of Him who was the greatest of teachers. Nor could he 
forget the example of that ' Mighty Prophet,' who, speaking 
comfortably to the amiable and gentle Mary and the careful and 
busy Martha, did not refuse to eat with publicans and sinners, 
while He allowed a poor, erring ' unfortunate' to wash His feet 
with her tears, and to wipe them with the hairs of her head. Oh ! 
if men would but learn it, how much more essential greatness is 
there in simplicity, in deep sympathy for bereavement, in a single 
faithful hour spent in reclaiming and cheering a lost Magda- 
lene, than in all the bluster, arrogance, and false pretence which 
mark the path of not a few vain, restless seekers after place and 
power ! 

'■ It was in Mr. Kemper's zealous efforts to carry the gospel 
' into the regions beyond' that he took into his system the seeds 
of a fatal disease. Mrs. Kemper, a wife thoroughly worthy of 
such a husband, wrote to Mrs. G. as follows : ' We were in 
the habit of going to Sabbath-school, over five miles in the coun- 
try, every Sabbath afternoon, and this very cold winter we suf- 
fered greatly. But I could protect myself by covering head and 
face with heavy shawls, while Mr. Kemper had to drive and watch 
closely a team of gay horses. We would get home only in time 
for supper. After supper we had a reading time v/ith the boys, 
and I could not persuade my husband that it was his duty to rest 
at home instead of going to night service. Two or three of the 
last Sabbaths were so bad we could not go to the country, but 
he did not rest, but visited the sick and alfiicted in town,' Here 
was true greatness, and how small do the fussy, explosive, self- 



42 o THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

asserting heroes appear beside such a splendid man as this ! In- 
stead of the sumptuous study, the afternoon slumber, the many- 
idle if not misspent hours of the Sabbath day, this man, full of 
business too, voluntarily taxed body and spirit in order to garner 
an interval of time to be devoted to labors ' five miles away in 
the country,' and this when every limb 'suffered greatly with the 
cold.' It was with such inner forces as these that the Kemper 
School first saw the light, and had been able to hold out through 
dark days as well as bright. And it. was by means of such lofty 
worth that the principal exerted a healthful and abiding power 
over hundreds, not to say thousands, in the West and South, who 
will never willingly let the name of the loved teacher die. 

" Heads of schools and colleges, such as this man was, are 
greatly to be desired. Let there be principals whose chief end 
shall be not to impress the pupil and communities with ideas of 
their own greatness, but teachers of larger girth than this, anxious 
to spend and be spent in the cause of truth. 

" It was the aim of Mr. Kemper to return full value for every 
dollar that the student paid in. Hence bistable was bountiful, the 
rooms arranged for comfort, extensive play-grounds "convenient ; 
while the scholar had the opportunity, through moderate handi- 
work on the little farm near by, of earning twenty, thirty, or even 
forty cents per day, to be applied to tuition, or otherwise, as the 
student himself chose. 

" When the regular exercises of the day were over, it was de- 
lightful to meet Mr. K, in the home circle. His hospitality to a 
guest was overflowing, and it was exceedingly beautiful to witness 
his gallantry to wife, tenderness toward children, united to his 
warm consideration for all. His experiences were large, his 
knowledge of particular subjects full, while the desire to make 
those around him useful and happy never seemed to fag? I have 
spent weeks together at his house, and each day had its scheme for 
adding new pleasure, for the discussion of plans by which existing 
evils might be cured. All the faith and the force that were in him 
had been reduced to practice, and there is scarcely a position or 
office that he might not have filled with honor. Had he chosen 
the law, he must have excelled as a jurist. Had the gospel min-, 
istry claimed him, his labors in such a field would have abounded. 
Had he entered the army his comrades must have named him 
among ' Ihe bravest of the brave.' 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 421 

" In person Mr. Kemper was of medium height and very com- 
pactly built. True, he did not possess those physical proportions 
which are usually called commanding, yet his bodily form, from 
every point of view and in every sense of the word, was pre- 
eminently manly. Looking on his face, with the forehead broad, the 
mouth honest and full of meaning, whether the lips were wreathed 
with smiles or compressed by resolve, the entire countenance in- 
dicated harmony and strength, and without the marring of a feature. 
The dark, lustrous eye especially attracted. For its light varied 
with the thought, kindling at one time in righteousanger or just re- 
proof, and then as sorrow entered melting into sympathetic tears. 
Nature furnished a visage which was exceedingly fine. For the 
countenance as a whole ' gave forth no uncertain sign' of benig- 
nity, pity, mental power, and human kindness, combined with a 
purpose to do right down ' to the uttermost farthing.' And one 
needed not to commune with him long before it was seen that 
here was a man ready to dare or to do anything duty demanded, 
even if life itself were to be the sure forfeit. Fearless for the 
right, and set against wrong ; with sympathies for the poor, and 
not envious of the rich ; in reverence worshiping God, with good 
will for fellow-man ; loving, liberal, laborious ; striving in faith 
and patience to win the prize— this workman, living and dying, 
was ' a nobleman of nature crowned with the diadem of grace.' 

" When such a man departs from our midst the world seems 
poorer. When we revisit his earthly home, and move and linger 
about the places and amid the scenes where he once spake and 
pilgrimed, how his voice is missed, and how the very silence 
seems to bring back an invisible presence and utter his praise ! 

" Many — and the writer especially, at whose house he so- 
journed — can vividly recall Mr. Kemper's last visit to Mexico, Mo. 
He came to attend the Teachers' Association, and was called to 
address the meeting. The grandeur of the discourse deeply im- 
pressed all. Many spoke of it as the noblest effort of the gifted 
speaker's life. In concluding he said : ' I am growing old, and 
my life work is nearly done. Standing on the bank of the river, 
waiting to depart, I catch glimpses of those signal lights beyond, 
which mark the path and wave me welcome to the further shore.' 
Ay ! we are wiser than we know. For even then the hour had 
begun to strike. Voices, deep but low, were whispering to this 



42 2 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

ripened saint of a ' home over there,' where unfading crowns, un- 
speakable joy, and eternal life are the free but sure reward. The 
day was breaking, the shadows fleeing, and with the battle fought 
and the victory won, the veteran soldier laid aside his armor and 
entered into rest. Thank God for such a life, for a record that 
abounds 

' In deeds of noble rectitude — in scorn 

For miserable aims that end with self — 

In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,. 

And with their mild persistence urge man's search 

To vaster issues. 

He lived and made undying music, and then, 

With high reverence, richly mixed with love, 

Went up to join the choir invisible 

Of those immortal dead who live again 

In minds made grander by the once presence 

Of those noble here.' " 

Rev. S. S. Laws, LL.D., President of the Uni- 
versity of Missouri : — 

" Permit me to. express the hope that Prof. Kemper will be 
allowed to tell his own story to the full extent that he has left 
written materials for so doing. His English is singularly pure and 
terse. His utterances have the directness of the man himself. 
He was as sensitive as a child, but had true greatness of soul. 
He had a ready and lively appreciation of worth, and an imperi- 
ous detestation of all crookedness and baseness. He was touch- 
ed by any kindly appreciation of his own worth and good work, 
but proudly indifferent to the censure consequent on doing what 
he conceived to be right and just. 

" He was strict as a teacher, for the good of his pupil. In one 
of my last conversations with him he boldly avowed himself in 
his school as a tyrant. I ventured, by way of justice rather than of 
compliment, to dissent, assigning as my reason that tyranny was 
the exercise of arrogated authority, or of intrusted authority without 
reason ; whereas I felt sure that he was careful to exercise only such 
authority as he conceived legitimately belonged to him, and then in 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 423 

a reasonable manner, however sternly. His only response was 
one of his good-humored and characteristic laughs. But it must 
be said of him that he was never more exacting of others than of 
himself. 

" He had one trait as a teacher that I must mention as unique. 
It was that of lifting his pupils by stages, ftis kindly personal 
interest in every honest effort on the part of the learner won for 
him their confidence and affection. After a time he would so 
inspire them with confidence and self-reliance and freedom of 
personal class-room intercourse, that some out-cropping would 
indicate that the class began to think that they knew almost as 
much about the subject in hand as the teacher. Then he would, 
at once and abruptly, rise to a higher plane, and begin to pull 
them up after him ; only to repeat the same experiences. This 
was a feature of his class-work, such as I have never known it in 
any other, and to some it made him a puzzle. 

" It occurs to me that I must mention two incidents, of interest 
to myself, at least. His testimony touching the plan of a lan- 
guage chair taking full charge of the subject, from the grammar up- 
ward, after trying it in Westminster, was, that it was a little more 
work for the teacher at the start, but in the end less work and 
better scholarship. 

"The other is his opinion of my lecture on Metaphysics. I 
sent him a copy, and asked him to give me the benefit of his view, 
of it. It was the last time we were ever together ; and it was dur- 
ing his attendance at the State Teachers' Association at this place, 
1880, that, sitting on my veranda in conversation with myself and 
some friends, he brought up the subject as something with which 
he had charged his mind. He assured me that he agreed with 
the lecture entirely, making only an incidental remark about one 
unusual form of expression,* which I took occasion to point out 
as having been expounded into greater plainness in another part 
of the lecture. Of course I felt gratified and complimented by 
the commendatory assent of so careful a reader and exacting a 
thinker, and so frank and independent a speaker, on a discussion 
so radical and far-reaching as the one in question. 

"If the address delivered by Professor Kemper before that 
Association has been left in manuscript, it will be a gem. But 
* " Inferential intuition," page 351, as compared with pp. 415, 416. 



424 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER, 

I fear that Mrs. Kemper's impression that it was never written is 
true. It was certainly one of the finest efforts of his life. It 
bristled with incisive and concisely illustrated points, uttered and 
clothed as was possible only to an able and experienced teacher." 

Rev. M. M.Frsher,D.D., LL.D., Professor of Latin 
in the University of Missouri : — 

" My acquaintance with Mr. Kemper began twenty-seven years 
ago,, when, in my boyhood, I accepted my first professorship in 
Westminster College. It will always be one of the most delight- 
ful and precious recollections of my life that for a quarter of a 
century a fiiend's place was accorded me in the heart and home 
of one of the best and purest men it has ever been my fortune to 
know. 

" One of the most noteworthy traits in the character of this 
prince among American educators v/as his unflinching adherence 
to principle under all circumstances. What right and duty com- 
manded he did, no matter whose frown might come, or what the 
consequences might be. Seeking popularity by sacrificing prin- 
ciple was utterly abhorrent to his nature. A more just man in 
all the relations of life I never knew. Whether his pupils were 
poor or rich, influential or the reverse, this great teacher held the 
scales of justice with a hand whose impartiality could never be 
called in question. His conscientious regard for duty extended 
to everything. Mr. Kemper during his whole life was a student. 
On one occasion, in talking over the duties of a teacher, he said to 
me : ' I never hear a lesson in reading or grammar without 
first studying it myself. It is necessary to arouse and keep alive 
interest in my pupils.' And so he prepared himself beforehand 
for every duty. What a volume of instruction there is here fur 
all teachers. 

" That such a man should be thorough mightbetaken for granted, 
but the degree of that thoroughness was known by comparatively 
few. Mr. Kemper did not acquire as rapidly as some scholars I 
have known, but the painstaking perseverance that marked the 
man always gave him the victory. His accuracy in pronuncia- 
tion was proverbial, and almost astonishing. Only in one 
instance in twenty-five years did I know his being in error. We 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 42 , 

had made an agreement to call the attention of one another to 
mispronounced words. At the rhetorical exercises one Saturday 
morning the -word' Graniczis was used, which he said he thought 
ought to be pronounced G^-an'-i-cus. When asked for his author- 
ity in private, he replied that he had seen the statement in some 
English periodical, whose high standing had inspired him with 
confidence in whatever it might say on such points. On further 
examination he at once adopted the usual pronunciation, and said 
Gra-ni' -cus. 

" In his studies, teaching, and in fact in everything, he was sys- 
tematic. This enabled him to do an amount of work, especially 
in his earlier teaching life, that would otherwise have been 
impossible. In talking about system being a necessity, he once 
remarked : ' If I had a boy, and he had nothing to do but twirl his 
finger around his thumb, 1 should v/ant him to have some system 
in it.' 

" There was one talent, in Mr. Kemper which has never been 
spoken of to a very great extent, but which has been felt hun- 
dreds of times, and that too by thousands. I refer to his power 
as a speaker. For chaste, concise, elegant English he had few 
equals in America. In point of rhetoric, some of his addresses 
were not only powerful and successful, but also splendid and well- 
nigh faultless. My conviction is that no teacher in our country 
was superior to him in the ability to weave into his speeches, and 
that too with matchless skill, the great events of history and the 
every-day incidents of life. Some little incident that would pass 
unnoticed by most men was often used by Mr. Kemper with even 
thrilling effect. He had in a very extraordinary degree common- 
sense, which may be set down as essential in all great educators. 
To speak truth, no one can achieve real success without this 
requisite. It has often been a source of regret with me that Mr. 
Kemper's speeches were not committed to writing. A book con- 
taining his educational addresses would itself be a treasure. 

" As an educator he attained and held v»^ith the hand of a 
giant a most exalted position. Many may be able teachers, but 
few men in a generation can truthfully be called educators. Mr. 
Kemper's aim was not to teach Latin or Greek, physics or 
mathematics merely, but to make men — to send out men 
thoroughly equipped to do what God called them to do. 

19* 



426 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

"A feature of peculiar interest in the character of this eminent 
man was his tenderness of heart. This reminds me of one of 
the most gifted men in this generation, who was associated with 
Mr. Kemper in Westminster College — I refer to Dr. S. S. Laws, 
who has achieved such signal success in the University of the 
State, and who ranks among the ablest university presidents 
America has ever produced. Both these men, to a stranger, 
might seem severe and rugged and unfeeling, but an intimate 
acquaintance proved both men to be remarkably tender-hearted, 
and to possess all the delicate sensibilities of the most refined 
woman. Par nobile fratrum. I shall never cease to regard it as 
one of the choicest and greatest blessings of my life that so much 
of my time has been passed in association with these two grand 
men, who have made an impression on this Empire State that 
eternity alone can fully unfold. 

" As a Christian, Mr. Kemper was one of the most humble, 
earnest, and devoted men I ever met. He was greatly afflicted in 
the loss of several children, to whom he was most tenderly at- 
tached. All his trials seemed to bring him nearer to God. 
Through life he was supported by the companionship of a wife 
whose native talent and refined culture rendered vital assistance 
in the great work of his life, and whose Christian fortitude was 
always most conspicuous in hours of darkness and sorrow." 

Resolutions of respect, in Memory of Professor 
Frederick T. Kemper, deceased, passed by the City 
Council of Boonville, on the occasion of his death : — 

" Whereas, The Supreme Ruler of the Universe has seen proper 
in His infinite wisdom to take from our midst our distinguished 
friend and fellow-citizen, Prof. Y . T. Kemper ; and 

" Whereas, We desire to place upon the records of our city a 
recognition of the love of our people for the memory of the de- 
ceased, as v/ell as our own individual esteem for his character; 
now, therefore, be it 

" Resolved, That we, the members of the Board of Councilmen 
of the City of Boonville, and the representatives of the friends 
and neighbors of the deceased, do profoundly recognize his death 
as a public calamity, and sincerely and deeply feel that our com- 



THE VICTOR CROWNED, 427 

munity has lost a worthy citizen and a good man, our people a 
generous friend and kind neighbor, and our city a patriotic and 
practical benefactor ; and that for ourselves and in the name of 
our people we extend to his family and friends, in the hour of 
their sad bereavement and irreparable loss, our profoundest sym- 
pathies and deepest regrets. And be it further 

' 'Resolved, That, in token of our respect for the memory of our de 
ceased citizen, and our high regard for his distinguished character, 
we hereby ask the Mayor of our city to issue his proclamation, 
requesting the people of our city to close their respective places 
of business during the funeral of our departed friend ; and that 
the offices of the city be draped in mourning for the period of 
thirty days." 

The next group of testimonials will embrace those 
of a distinctively religious character. The first of 
these is a paper passed by the Pastors' Union of Boon- 
ville, embracing all the Protestant ministers of the 
place : — ■ 

" We feel thankful to God for the long and useful life which 
Prof. F. T. Kemper, in the providence of God, was permitted to 
spend in our midst. We feel deeply afflicted in the death of one 
so long and usefully identified with the cause of religion and 
Christian education. Now, as it has pleased Almighty God to 
remove our'beloved brother from his labors on earth to his reward 
in heaven ; therefore 

" Resolved, That while we deeply regret the loss of his presence 
and labors, we humbly submit to the action of Him who doeth 
all things right. 

" Resolved, That we extend to his bereaved family our Chris- 
tian sympathy." 

Resolutions of the Session of the Boonville Pres- 
byterian Church, March 11, 1881 : — 

" We recognize in this providence the wise, loving, and sover- 
eign hand of Almighty God, and bow with submission to His 



42 8 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

holy win. ' The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; 
blessed be the name of the Lord.' 

" We desire to record, as a Session, our sense of personal be- 
reavement, in the loss of this friend and counselor, in the work 
intrusted to us as officers of the church. 

" We desire to express our high appreciation of his character 
as a man, his consistency as a Christian, and his faithfulness as 
an elder. He was an Israelite in whom was no g-uile, an elder 
who took the oversight of the flock willingly and of a ready mind, 
not as a lord over God's heritage, but as an example to the flock. 

" We tender our heartfelt sympathy to his sorely bereaved fam- 
ily, and mingle our tears with theirs. Our prayer is that God, 
whom he served, may be their Sun and Shield, their Keeper, and 
their Shade upon their right hand," 

The action of the Synod of Missouri, taken at St. 
Louis in the fall of 1881 : — 

" In making mention of the death of Ruling Elder Prof. F. T.^ 
Kemper, the Synod records : — 

" First, Its recognition of the sovereign, wise, and loving hand 
of God, who killeth and maketh alive, who gave and has taken 
away, in whose sight the death of His saints is precious. 

" Second. Its sense of loss to the Church on earth in the re- 
moval of such men from the ruling eldership ; for good men are 
among our best gifts. 

" Third. Its appreciation of Prof. Kemper as a man filling in 
the largest measure his sphere in life. As a man, he exemplified 
the virtues of truth, righteousness, and godliness ; as a Christian, 
be was adorned with the graces of the Spirit, following in the 
footsteps of his Master, who went about doing good ; a!s an offi- 
cer in the church, he was prayerful, faithful, and fearless in his dis- 
charge of the trust committed to him ; blameless, vigilant, sober, 
of good behavior, given to hospitality, having a good report from 
them that are without, taking the oversight of the flock willingly 
and of a ready mind ; as an educator, he made Christianity the 
basis of his work, not only by inculcating Christian maxims, but 
by making the Bible a text-book in his school. 

" Fourth. Its gratitude to God for leaving him with us so long, 
for the bright example of his victorious faith, by which he being 



THE VICTOR CROWNED, 429 

dead yet speaks to us, and for the works which follow him to the 
lengthened shadows of his earthly life, 

" Fifth. Its prayer to the great Head of the Church, that He 
will raise up and endow many young men all over our Zion to fill 
the high office of ruling elder of His house." 

The last is from the Rev. O. W. Gauss, M.D., the 
pastor of the Boonville Presbyterian Church : — 

" PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. 

" The first time I saw Prof. Kem.per was oi. the Sunday even- 
ing service in the church of which he was an elder. The cordial 
manner in which he came forward to greet me at once put-me at 
ease in his presence. Fancy pictures to us the mental and phys- 
ical characteristics of men of repute. Prof, Kemper's name was 
familiar to me as one of the most prominent and successful edu- 
cators in the land, and I expected to find him fastidious in dress, 
imposing in person, and stern in the lines of his face. But the 
man whom I saw coming out of- the congregation to the pulpit 
was in every respect the opposite of this. In dress he was plain ; 
his person was vigorous, but not imposing; and his face was 
thoughtful, firm, and earnest, but not rigid. The thing which spe- 
cially impressed me that night was the pleasant smile which 
lighted up mouth, eye, and brow, and made me feel that the 
grasp of the hand which he extended was more than a form. The 
sweet guilelessness of his smile revealed a spirit that was Nathan- 
ael's before his Lord, Forthwith my heart went out to him with 
a confidence which v/as never v/ithdrawn, A friendship was then 
formed which every young pastor so much needs, combining sym- 
pathy and forbearance toward ipexperience, with the wisdom 
and helpfulness of riper years. 

" To undertake a narrative of his life, or even of that portion 
of it which came under my observation, would be trespassing on 
the domain of the biographer ; to attempt to estimate his charac- 
ter as a whole would be more than I could manage ; but in the re- 
lation which I sustained as pastor of the church, of which he was 
an honored elder for about a quarter of a century, certain phases 
of his religious character passed under my observation, which no 



430 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

one else would be so likely to notice in their bearing upon pas- 
toral work. 

" I cherish his memory as that of a man of the most humble 
and most exalted type of piety, realizing as much as any one I 
ever knew the Saviour's promise, ' He that humbleth himself 
shall be exalted.' The beautiful lines he was wont to repeat, 
as illustrating his conception of Christian character, fit well his 
own : — 

' The bird that soars on highest wing, 
Builds on the ground her lowly nest ; 
And she that doth most sweetly sing, 

Sings in the shade, whence all things rest. 
In lark and nightingale we see 
What honor hath humility.' 

I esteemed many other things in him. Specially was his Biblical 
knowledge such that I always felt that the proper place for me 
was to sit at his feet and learn of him. But my most vivid im- 
pression was derived from his.spirit of single-hearted consecration 
to Christ. This was the key-note of his life, to which his business 
affairs, hi? social intercourse, his church labors, his daily walk 
were attuned. 

" Few ministers of the gospel ever came within the circle of his 
influence who will not heartily respond to this acknowledgment 
of his uniformly kind treatment. In receiving them he received 
their Master, and his attentions to them were acts of personal 
devotion to Christ. His house was always open to entertain 
them, his hand was always outstretched to help them, his heart 
was always in sympathy with them. In the first few weeks of my 
settlement over the Boonville church, he frequently expressed 
concern lest the deacons might not be sufficiently thoughtful in 
paying the salary, and so, as strangers, the pastor's family would 
sufTer embarrassment. No one ever took a greater delight in 
doing for others. He was jealous for the honor of Christ, as 
intrusted to the ministry, and was grieved to discover any imper- 
fection of character in those appointed to minister in holy things, 
like the dead fly in the apothecary's ointment. He coveted for 
them the utmost attainable perfection, puttmg the essential first, 
but desiring that they might have every other possible excellence. 



THE VICTOR CROWNED, 43 1 

It was in this spirit that he would sometimes criticise the preacher's 
pronunciation, enunciation, grammar, and whole style. In one 
of my first interviews with him he said to me, ' I want to be proud 
of my pastor.' His language impressed me as the counterpart of 
Paul's language to the Corinthian church, ' I have espoused you 
to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to 
Christ. ' As the pastor's most fervent desire is to see Christians liv- 
ing near their Lord, so the heart of this good elder was filled with 
such zeal for his Redeemer that he wanted the man who stood 
forth as His ambassador to give him honor in all things. 
■ " He always came to the house of God hungry for the bread of 
life. Keenly alive to the powers of learning, eloquence, and rheto- 
ric in the pulpit, himself possessing these gifts to a remarkable de- 
gree, he was yet always an appreciative hearer of the simple truth 
as preached by men destitute of them. I have often felt, in the 
years of my pastorate, that the man who was the best teacher was 
the most teachable. It is not strange, therefore, that he loved the 
house of God, and found a delight in the simple ordinance of Di- 
vine worship, which was far more to him than anything the world 
could afford. The language of David was his own : ' How ami- 
able are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. A day in Thy courts 
is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in 
the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.' 

•' He gave to the prayer-meeting a special charm, and its in- 
formal exercises were very dear to him. As the labors of his school 
were lightened upon him in the latter years of his life, he made 
one of a little company of six or eight to study the Sunday-school 
lesson weekly. He took evident delight in this little meeting, 
and never failed to give delight by the directness with which he 
would seize upon the central truth of the passage under study. 

" He had no set phrases in prayer, but with the simplicity of a 
child poured out his soul before God in language that all could 
understand, and with an unction that all could feel. A very com- 
mon expression with him when he arose to pray was, ' O Thou 
that hearest prayer,' as though his faith went forward to encour- 
age his soul to press boldly into the Divine presence, and tell all 
its needs. Another expression that was very common with him 
was, ' Thou that receivest sinners,' and I can recall, as he uttered 
these words, how his voice would become choked with tears. 



432 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

Whenever he spoke, and he often did, it was from the heart and 
to the heart. In the week of prayer preceding his death, at a un- 
ion meeting, after different persons had enumerated the things 
for which they were thankful, just as the meeting was about to 
close, he arose and said : ' I would like to say a few words. I 
want to say that I ajn thankful for affliction. It is good for me 
that I have been afflicted.' I do not remember much else that 
was said or done there that night. But his own deep emotion and 
earnestness, and the profound feeling of sympathy awakened by 
his tender words, are as fresh to me as though I had heard them 
but yesterday. This is only a sample of what his fellow-worship- 
ers so often heard from his lips. A most instructive and pleas- 
ing book could have been compiled out of his impromptu prayer- 
meeting talks. 

" But the occasions which more than any others discovered the 
depths of his religious experience were the quarterly communion 
seasons. At these times his whole soul seemed stirred. During 
the preparatory services his voice was so choked with emotion 
that his utterance, when praying to God or speaking to us, was 
often impeded. It was a touching sight to behold the strong 
man, with overflowing eyes, passing around and partaking of the 
sacred emblems. That which moved him at these times was the 
sense of his own sin and of his Saviour's grace. The love of the 
cross overcame him. He has told me that his father's emotion 
at the communion-table was painful, but that this was not the 
case with him. His feeling was only an intense realization of 
the kindness and love of God to him a sinner. He was accus- 
tomed to speak of these communion seasons as the milestones of 
the Christian's course, marking off our growth in grace and our 
progress to our journey's end. He always mentioned with 
trembling accents the thought that at each season he was possi- 
bly^ passing the last stone. 

"Without any of that irreverent familiarity which often pains 
the ear in the language of some zealous Christians, he had all 
that confidence in Christ which one cherishes in a friend who has 
been tried and found true. Speaking one day of the story of 
Jonah, as one of the hard things in the Bible for some people to 
believe, he said : * I never had any trouble to believe this narra- 
tive. Christ by recognizing it has set upon it the seal of truth. 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 433 

and I know Christ would not deceive me.' What a beautiful 
illustration of childlike faith I In him was blended in sweet har- 
mony the moral and intellectual strength of Christian manhood, 
with the trustfulness of a little child. It has been said that, as the 
perfect boy must have something of the man about him, so the 
perfect man must have something of the boy in him. In the 
common" acceptation of the word there was nothing of the ' boy ' 
about Prof. Kemper ; but he did possess those childlike disposi- 
tions which our Saviour commerided, and like his Master, who 
said, ' Suffer the little children to come unto me,' he too ever had 
open arms for the little ones. He has often told, with a peculiar 
satisfaction and pride, how he could win little children to leave 
their mothers' arms and come to his own. It was this childlike 
spirit that vvon to him the stranger and the poor, for whom he was 
always doing. I have been interested to see that, while in the 
house of God he was courteous to all, he paid special attention to 
plain people. Often, immediately upon the pronouncing of the 
benediction, he was seen hastening back through the aisle to 
greet some stranger on whom his eye had rested in the congre- 
gation, ere he should leave the house. 

" He would expect to find such a man always abounding in the 
work of the Lord. Besides attending with conscientious faithful- 
ness to the duties that devolved on him as an elder,, he failed not 
to use every opportunity to do good. His heart was always on 
the alert to win souls to Christ. I was in his carriage with him 
once in company with two young men, one of whom was weigh- 
ing the question of his call to preach the gospel. When in the 
course of conversation the topic came up, he not only expressed 
his conception of the work of the ministry, but his estimate of 
that work, by saying, ' There is no work on earth like that of turn- 
ing men to righteousness.' It was from the tone of his voice, in 
giving emphasis to the passage, that I first caught the climax in 
the promise, ' They that be zvise shall shine as the brightness of 
the firmament ; and they that TURN MANY TO righteousness 
as the STARS forever and ever.' 

" He founded a little Sundaj-school in the neighborhood of his 
farm, which for more than twenty years lived under his fostering 
care, and was the means of great good in the community. Dur- 
ing a large part of the time he personally superintended it^ and 



434 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

the rides back and forth in the severe winter weather may have 
laid the foundation of his fatal sickness. As he had more leisure 
from his school duties, he gave his encouragement to general 
Christian work ; by his presence and instruction imparting the 
main interest and profit to more than one Sunday-school conven- 
tion which I attended with him. 

" The system upon which his school was inanaged often gave 
him the appearance of extreme rigor. But as a matter of fact his 
heart was burdened with desire for the salvation of the youth 
gathered under his roof, and he lost no opportunity to urge upoa 
them the importance of a personal surrender to Christ. There 
was no sight so beautiful to him g.s the young turning their feet 
into the way of righteousness. When it was the privilege of the 
session to receive such, tears of gladness have rained down his 
cheeks, and words of tender counsel and sympathy have issued 
from his heart as he took them by the hand to welcome them to 
the Church of the living God. 

" His piety reached down into his pocket. He stood at the 
door of the Lord's vineyard, waiting for the command, * Go 
work,' with his open purse in his hand, as it were. No call for 
money to carry on the Lord's work ever failed to get from him a 
cheerful and liberal response. He had proved and found true the 
words of the Saviour, ' It is more blessed to give than to receive,' 
and he gave out his own experience for the benefit of others in 
the unction with which he so often said, ' The liberal soul shall 
be made fat ; and he that watereth shall himself also be watered.' 

"When the apprehension in regard to his recovery, which I 
had felt for several days, was aroused to the keenest alarm by the 
message of the servant, ' Mr. Kemper is dying,' I hastened to his 
bedside to see that the angel of death had indeed come, and that 
the light of the just man was about to be removed from earth to 
shine in the Father's kingdom above. For three hours we 
watched the Christian in the death struggle, until we beheld him 
plant his foot upon the vanquished foe, and ascend to God on the 
wings of his triumphant faith, shouting back to the weepers 
around his couch, ' All is well,' 

' Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe.' 

In describing the dying of his last boy, he described his own : * It 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 435 

was a grand pageant of the soul ' ; so painless, peaceful, and 
hopeful was his translation from earth to heaven. 

" I am thankful that I was permitted to witness that scene, but 
more thankful that I was permitted to know the man in his life. 
By his faith he being dead yet speakelh of a true Christian man- 
hood. Behold in him what God hath wrought, a beautiful piece 
of the workmanship of Divine grace. He has gone from earth 
to be with Christ, where he has eternally renewed his youth, 
and already received the palm of victory and the crown of life, 
of which he loved to sing on earth in the words of his favorite 
hymn : — 

" Palms o^f glory, raiment bright, 
Crowns that never fade away. 

Gird and deck the saints in light, 

Priests, and kings, and conquerors they. 

*' Yet the conquerors bring their palms 

To the Lamb amidst the throne ; 
And proclaim in joyful psalms. 

Victory through His cross alone. 

" Kings their crowns for harps resign. 

Crying, as they strike the chords, 
'Take the kingdom, it is Thine, 

King of kings, and Lord of lords.' 

" Round the altar priests confess, 
' If these robes are white as snow, 

'Twas the Saviour's righteousness. 
And His blood that made them so.' 

" Who were these? On earth they dwelt, 

Sinners once of Adam's race ; 
Guilt, and fear, and suffering felt, 

But were saved from all by grace. 

" They were mortal too like us ; 

Ah I when we like them shall die, 
May our souls, translated thus. 

Triumph, reign, and shine on high." 



436 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

We have reserved to the last the tributes of his 
pupils. As theirs is the greatest debt, so theirs should 
be the highest appreciation. 

Resolutions passed by the Kemper Family School 
March 9, 1881 : — 

" Whereas, The hand of Divine Providence has removed our 
beloved teacher, F. T. Kemper, from the scene of his temporal 
labors, and from the students who profited by his ministry and 
example ; and 

" Wheteas, We are desirous of testifying our respect for his 
memory and of expressing our earnest and affectionate sympathy 
Vi^ith the household deprived by this dispensation of its earthly 
head ; therefore, be it 

^* Resolved, That, in our natural sorrow for the loss of the 
faithful and tender shepherd, we find consolation in the belief 
that it is well with him for whom we mourn ; and 

" Resolved, That while we deeply sympathize with those who 
were bound to our departed preceptor by the nearest and dearest 
ties, we share with them the hope of a reunion in that better 
world, where there are no partings, and bliss ineffable forbids a 
tear ; and 

"'Resolved, That we tenderly condole with the family of our 
deceased guardian in their hour of trial and affliction, and de- 
voutly commend them to the keeping of Him who looks with 
pitying eye upon the widow and fatherless ; and 

''Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to 
the family of the deceased, as a token of our respect and vener- 
ation for the Christian character of a good man gone to his rest. 
and the interest felt by his late students in those he loved and 
cherished." 

At a meeting of the former students of the 
Kemper Family School, who are now residents of 
Kansas City, Mo,, held March 16, 1881, the follow- 
ing resolutions upon the death of Professor F. T. 
Kemper were unanimously adopted : — 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 437 

" Whereas, God hath removed our friend and former beloved 
teacher from all earthly labor and care ; and 

" Whereas, We, his former students, are desirous of testify- 
ing to our sincere respect for his memory, and of giving expres- 
sion of sympathy to the family bereaved by this visitation of 
God ; therefore, be it 

" Resolved, That, in our grief for and remembrance of the loss 
of one who was a scholar, friend, and Christian, we are consoled 
with the belief that it is well with him for whom we mourn ; and 

" Resiolved, That we tender our condolence to the family of t^e 
deceased in this their time of trial and affliction, and commend 
them to the blessing and mercy of God. 

" Wash. Adams, Wyan Nelson, 

" Andrew R. French, . T. W. Russell, 

" James Gibson, George W. Ferrel, 

" W. L. Campbell." 

Frank Baird, Kirksville, Mo., a recent pupil : — 

" He treated me just as a father would. Well do I remember 
one day when he called me to his room and advised me." 

Frank L. Webster, Topeka, Kansas, a pupil of 
1874-76:— 

*' He was 'a power for good in the world, and hundreds of 
young men — even men who are no longer young — can testify to 
his efforts in the advancement of truth and knowledge ; can tes- 
tify that they are better because such a man lived." 

Ralph Talbot, Esq., of Holmes & Talbot, lawyers, 
St. Louis, a recent pupil : — 

" I feel a strong personal grief in the death of one of the best 
and noblest of all men whom I have ever known." 

Edwin M. Price, Columbia, Mo., a recent pupil : — 

" There are not many days that I am not called upon to put in 
practice something I learned while at Kemper's Family School." 

Adrian Dozier, St. Louis, a recent pupil : — 



43 S THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

"■ Mr. Kemper was undoubtedly the best teacher that I ever 
saw. I think that I- learned more in the two years I attended his 
school than I ever learned in any five years of my schooling 
elsewhere." 

Mrs. Maggie Miller Haddox, Nashville, Tenn., a 
pupil : — 

" I owe all that is good in me to my dear, good friend. My 
ideas of what constitutes a good and honest man are formed from 
what I know Mr. Kemper was." 

The Rev. Uncas McCluer, Chatham Hill, Va., a 
pupil : — 

" It is not necessary for me to say how much I owe him for his 
example and service." 

A. R. Bradley, St. Labory, Neb., a pupil : — 

" The death of none of my relatives would make me more un- 
happy, as Mr. Kemper was a man whom I really loved." 

L. C. Nelson, of Nelson & Noel, bankers, St. Louis, 
a pupil : — 

" There. might have been as good men in the world, but none 
in my estimation were truer, greater, or better. His place will, 
I believe, never be filled. I shall talk to my two little boys, as 
they grow up, of his beautiful character and sterling worth and 
integrity, and try to inspire them with a desire to emulate his life 
and virtues." 

William H. Goebel, U. S. S. Yantic, Navy Depart- 
ment, Washington, D. C, a recent pupil : — 

" One of Mr. Kemper's proverbs was that sin never pays. He 
used to tell us that he did not want to be called Professor, be- 
cause too many professions were going under that name." 

T. C. Davis, Leavenworth, a pupil of 1848-50: — 

" I often explain to my children the system, as taught by Mr. 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 439 

Kemper, and tell them it was a better system than is taught at 
their school ; and our schools are supposed to be of the best," 

Joseph C. Terrell, Esq., a prominent lawyer of 
Fort Worth, Texas, one of the oldest pupils :— 

"Of all the men whom I have known through life's journey, 
none have done so much good to the human race as our loved 
schoolmaster, F. T, Kemper. Not one man in a million lived so 
little for self. He has indeed left indelible footprints on the 
sands of time." 

Frederick K. Freeman, Florida, a nephew of Mr„ 
Kemper, an old pupil, and a member of the Stone- 
wall brigade : — 

" I have often thought that my uncle pOjSsessed very many of 
the sterling traits ana noble, unswerving qualities which went to 
make up the character of Gen. Stonewall Jackson. It has often 
occurred to my mind that had uncle thrown his talents in a mili- 
tary direction during the late war, he would have developed into 
another Stonewall Jackson." 

Elisha Stanley Rector, New Home, Bates County, 
Mo., a pupil of 1846 : — 

" Mr. Kemper called us four little boys, Reuben Garnett, Boyle 
Hayden, Samuel Massey, and myself, his " ponies.' He was a 
good teacher, a good man, and the world is better off for his 
having lived in it." 

Lambert Ott, M.D., a successful physician of Phil- 
adelphia, Pa. : — 

*' He was the first to point out to me a common error, so preva- 
lent in our schools of learning — a lack of thoroughness in the ele- 
ments — thus giving a vague and dim insight to the future acqui- 
sitions, supported by a mass of imperfections. To my mind, the 
secret of his success was in his earnestness, his acting with 
thoroughness and deliberation in every thing undertaken. His 
ideas, when firmly ground into the young mind, always gave 



440 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

promise of a useful man. I find his instructions of incalculable 
benefit to me in my daily work, and I feel very grateful to him for 
the sound principles inculcated. He was the first who taught 
me how to study, how to control my powers, and the worth of 
that prime factor of intelligence, attention." 

Co T, Holland, M.D., Keytesviile, Mo,, a pupil of 
1867:— 

"I always will think that Mr. Kemper was one of the best 
men that lived." 

S. S. Simpson, principal of the public schools of 
Nevada, Mo., an old pupil : — 

" I shall ever hold his name in grateful remembrance, and 
point to him with pride, as my teacher and benefactor." 

Miss Maria McCutchen, principal of the Higgins- 
ville Seminary : — 

" He taught me how to teach, and as an educator is my stand- 
ard." 

Andrew R. French, grain merchant, of Kansas 
City ; telegram on the occasion of Mr. Kemper's 
death :~ 

" Would I could be with you to-day ! The dead was one of the 
noblest of men. I loved him like a father. Green will ever be 
his memory in the hearts of those who knew him well," 

Major Robert Ruxton, Miami, Mo., an old pupil : — 

" His reputation was more than national. He was peerless in 
his profession. In all the relations of life he was nearer perfec- 
tion than any man we ever knew — the best balanced. He was the 
only man -in whom we could never find a weak place. He never 
allowed any time to go to waste. The daily walks for exercise 
were improved ; the table-talks at meals were always pleasant 
and profitable. His prayers evinced the deepest interest in his 
school. His powers of imparting information were almost super- 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 441 

atural. His facility of illustration was most wonderful. In 
everything he did and said, he kept steadily in view the prepara- 
tion for a higher and better life, both in himself and pupils." 

The Hon. D. H. Mclntyre, Attorney-General of 
Missouri, a pupil at Westminster College : — 

" An erudite gentleman, a consistent Christian, and a most 
useful public servant, he was an ornament to society and one of 
its most useful members. He seemed to think it his mission to 
teach, and he discharged that mission with great zeal and patience. 
Hundreds attest how successfully he followed his chosen calling. 
In him the State has lost one of its most valued citizens.' 

Elder Joseph K. Rogers, LL.D.,the distinguished 
president of Christian College, Columbia, Mo., who 
has since also entered upon his reward : — 

"Such was my admiration of your husband's many splendid 
qualities, and my appreciation of the noble life he led, that I feel 
constrained to send this word of sympathy and condolence^ and to 
express thus briefly my great sense of the loss sustained by the 
whole country in his death." 

Hon. William Brown, Jacksonville, 111., Assistant 
Solicitor-General of the Wabash System, with juris- 
diction of all the roads lying east of the Mississippi, 
an old pupil : — 

" Mr. Kemper was the best instructor of youth I ever knew. 
His methods were the result of a deep and careful study. His 
rules, many of which I yet remember, were calculated to impress 
themselves upon the minds of boys, and to control their action at 
the time and for the future. His great good sense, I can now see, 
was an all-pervading presence in every detail of his school govern- 
ment. I can more fully appreciate now, than I once could, the 
wisdom of his requirements as to 'little things,' as they seemed. 
He demanded that all things should be put to their legitimate use, 
and should not be misused. I recall his little rule ' In opening 
and closing a dool:, take hold of the knob.' That was the use for 
20 



442 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

which the knob was placed there ; it was the best thing for such 
a purpose; and, when so placed, he could see neither sense nor 
decency in seizing the door instead of the knob. So in the essen- 
tials, he was painstaking,^ patient, and comprehensive." 

Hon. L. M. Lawson, of Donnell, Lawson & Simp- 
son, bankers, New York, an old pupil. From this 
gentleman we shall present, first, the following beauti- 
fully-worded telegram, to which allusion has already 
been made : — 

" The intelligence of the death of Professor Kemper has over- 
whelmed me with grief. Words cannot express my deep and 
loving loyalty to the memory of my old teacher. The State of 
Missouri has lost one of its most useful citizens, the cause of 
education its noblest advocate, polite learning its brightest or- 
nament, religion its purest example, and 1 my best friend." 

We shall give also an extract from a letter written 
to Mrs. Kemper : — 

" I cannot tell you how grateful I am for the memory that 
remains to me of his lovely life and noble character ; how 
thankful I am for the light and joy he diffused, and his high ex- 
ample of all that is true, and gentle, and brave, and good. In the 
long years that have passed since I was his pupil, no day has ever 
come that was not cheered and brightened with some memory of 
his devotion and power ; and I could count the times by myriads 
when I have turned from the arid wastes of life to the contempla- 
tion of his character, rich and fertile as T knew it to be in every 
great and good qualification. . . . We do know that his death 
makes a large diminution to the earthly happiness of us all, 
and we cannot but mourn for the loss of one whom we loved so 
dearly and who so well deserved cur love. Yet there is pleasure 
in the recollection of the extent, the variety, and depth of his 
learning, the majesty of his simplicity, the fascination of his meek- 
ness, and the power of his godliness, which entitle him to be held 
in enduring remembrance ; and there is consolation too in the 
fact that we behold beside his tomb the risen and sanctified spirit, 
and we rejoice in the beauty and the bloom of his immortal life." 



-^^ ^^^^^r. 




THE VICTOR CROWNED. 443 

Hon. Phil. E. Chappell, Treasurer of the State of 
Missouri, an old pupil : — 

" For many years I have been so accustomed to study the char- 
acter of Prof. Kemper in the great depth and breadth and height 
of its development, that single incidents, however striking, have 
been lost in the most profound admiration for the finished struct- 
ure, as it looms up to the view, like a pillar of cloud by day and 
of fire by night, leading the old and the young to the higher and 
better life. In all m.y life, I am sure I have never met his coun- 
terpart, whether viewed as a successful educator, or as a citizen, 
who in all the relations of life came so fully up to the most ex- 
acting requirements of a robust. Christian manhood. 

" Regarding his life as a trust too sacred to be trifled with, ils 
hours too precious to be wasted in frivolous, unprofitable pleas- 
ures, or squandered in the indulgence of unhallowed appetites and 
passions, he dedicated it wholly to the pursuit of a calling in 
which he could honor his God while serving his fellow-men ; by 
training at the same time the head for the active duties of life, 
and the heart for the joys and peaceful rest of the life to come, so 
that when young men left his school to take part in the great 
drama of life, they carried with them knowledge sanctified by his 
teachings, and a sense of moral responsibility impressed upon 
them by every precept and example of their faithful teacher. 

" I have often, in reverting to the wonderful success of this 
great and good man, in a field of labor wh-ere so many have met 
the sorest disappointments and made the saddest failures, asked 
myself, What was the secret of his success ? and as often have an- 
swered, He started in life with a definite object in view ; he com- 
prehended fully the duties and grave responsibilities of the pro- 
fession he had chosen ; to the conscientious discharge of those 
duties and obligations he brought a well-balanced mind, patient 
industry, indomitable will and courage, tempered with the stern- 
est sense of religious conviction, and executive ability which 
grasped the purpose and details of all he proposed to do ; and he 
enforced method, system, and discipline at all times and under 
all circumstances, as the means by and through which all his ends 
were to be accomplished. I am free to confess that for my busi- 
ness success in life, such as it has been, I am indebted greatly for 



444 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

the lessons of order, system, and promptness which I received from 
him. 

" If success in any calling is the test and measure of ability, then 
Professor Kemper was ^r^<5;^ in his profession. His life-work was 
grand in its results, as it was noble in its aims. Look over the 
State, and you will find hundreds of his pupils to-day ranking 
among the most useful, deserving, and honored of her citizens, 
who mourn the loss of him who, in his day and generation, was 
useful to his kind, far above the average even of men to whom 
the world has accorded great usefulness." 

Rev. Charles C. Hersman, D.D,, president of West- 
minster College, and one of his pupils there : — 

" In regard to our beloved teacher, I have not words to express 
to you the sense of personal loss which I felt when the sad news 
of his death reached me. I. who had been instructed so faith- 
fully, carefully, and thoroughly by him, who had known him as 
friend, instructor, guide — a professor of Christ in public life, an 
exemplar of all Christian virtues in private — I loved him while 
among the living on earth, and cherish his memory now that he 
is among the living in heaven. 

" I always regarded him as a man of one aim, and that aim to 
educate the young in the principles of Christianity for the battle of 
life here, and for the triumph of life hereafter. He impressed me 
as a man who cared nothing for money, and nothing for fame, 
-only as a firm adherence to truth and right would secure it. 

"While at Princeton Theological Seminary, a few of the stu- 
dents formed a private class* and recited Greek to on$ of the pro- 
fessors who had visited Germany and had been largely trained in 
one of her universities. He asked me in what college and from 
whom I had received instruction in Greek, I replied, ' From 
Prof. F. T. Kemper.' He said that he was not aware that there 
was a school in the West where the instruction was so thorough, 
even in the minutiae of the language. 

" He stood in the front rank of educators, accomplished a 
noble work in his generation, and, departed, has left a record of 
which we, his pupils, may be proud, and which we, his colaborers, 
may well strive to emulate." 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 445 

This poem is from the pen and brain and heart of 
Edward R. Taylor, M.D., of Taylor & Haight, 
attorneys-at-law, San Francisco, an old pupil: — 



"STANZAS ON THE DEATH OF PROFESSOR 
F. T. KEMPER. 

" This was the noblest Roman of them all. 
. . . the elements 
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up, 
And say to all the world. This was a man. " 

Julius Ccesar^ Act v., Scene 5. 
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. 
2 Timothy 4 : 7. 

I. 
" All's over now ; ihat great heart beats no more ; 

That nimble intellect has heavenward fled ; 
Yet we, lamenting, question o'er and o'er, 

Can it, indeed, be true that Kemper's dead ? 

" He who but yesterday with vigorous tread 
Strode through our midst the Titan that he was, 

Whose energies in richest affluence spread. 
Yet never known to halt or suffer pause ? 

" When Death strikes sudden down some puny thing, 
We marvel not, though sorrow's tear be shed ; 

But when one falls like him of whom I sing, 
We wonder more than can be writ or said. 

" 'Tis then there burst and crowd upon the brain . 

Thoughts deep and strange on what we know as Life- 
Its myst'ries, its relations, loss and gain. 

And what the meaning of its toil and strife. 

" Thick grows the darkne^ss 'round us as we seek 
To solve the problem that unsolved remains, 

While Life and Death, relentless, ever wreak 
Their fury oh us as they mock our pains. 



446 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" Vain, vain all questioning ; he who trod 
These academic shades*for twoscore years, 

Now lies all breathless here as any clod, 
And naught is left save memory and tears. 

II. 

" He was a IMan — ay, every inch a Man — 
Alert in body and alert in mind ; 

A glorious soul that ever sought the van. 
And died had rather than to lag behind. 

" He sprang from Old Virginia's honored soil, 
Receiving heritage of blood and brain 

That bore him on through years of ceaseless toil 
To ripest harvests of the richest grain. 

" No energy was lost on effort vain, 
In bungling that he was not fit to do, 

But seeing clearly what he could attain, 

That polestar blazed fore'er before his view. 

" To training youth he every feeling turned, 
From earliest manhood to his latest day ; 

And at the last the passion fiercer burned 
Than when at first he started on his way. 

'' He never faltered, never changed his course ; 

He sauntered in no by-ways, howe'er sweet ; 
His one aim seized him as a mighty force, 

And carried him to Triumph's sunlit seat. 

'" Of hard antagonisms there were enough 
To make the proudest, stoutest nature quail , 

But his was that indomitable stuff 
Which could not, would not, dared not fail. 

" And when he moved against opposing wills, 
The right, at least to him, was clear and plain, 

And firmly rooted as the granite hills : 
Conciliation tried her wiles in vain. 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 447 

" He would be master in his own domain. 

And King he was, a veritable Czar, 
Who treated threats with haughtiest disdain. 

Nor shrank from any consequence of war. 

" Yet he was kind, and drew the wayward heart, 
In love, respect and wonder, to his own. 

And with such skill instruction did impart 
That none but idiots could resist his tone. 

*' His exposition was so clear and fuU, 
And with it blent such passion for the theme. 

And such forbearance, that the dullest dull 

Were borne along in Learning's limpid stream. 

'* The memorizing process he abhorred ; 

'Twas his to train the faculties in thought. 
And not in gathering up a useless hoard 

Of useless facts with incoherence fraught. 

"' He dug deep down into the -Classic mine. 
And fondled lovingly its treasured wealth. 

Firm in belief that by this honored sign 

The young would surely march to mental health. 

'* With this and Mathematics in their hand, 
He led his votaries to the shrine of Thought, 

And bade them there that discipline command 

Which he deemed could with nothing else be bought. 

" Yet varied was the diet which he spread, 
Presenting all with most consummate art. 

And ever striving intellect to wed 

With pure ambition and a cleanly heart. 

" No task was e'er imposed beyond the power 

Of willing industry with ease to do ; 
But learned it had to be within the hour, 

Without excuse of any shade or hue. 



44^ THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" And study was so intermixed with play, 
Which unconstrainedly pursued its course, 

•That none could justly cry the master nay. 
When he demanded all the reason's force. 

"He was himself a lover of ihe sport 

That sent the blood all tingling through the veins 

And often to the campus would resort, 
To feel its pulses and receive its gains. 

" He held his sway without a break or flaw, 
Even when drinking at that joyous fount, 

And in disputes inexorably saw 

Justice dealt out to each with fairest count, 

'* In regulations sensibly precise, 

He parceled every moment to its deed, 

And in adjustment was so wisely nice 
That Labor spent itself on every need. 

" He sternly, rigidly maintained the law, 
With no abatement, and no mercy shown 

To those who pleaded with excuse of straw. 
Or those who set their will against his own. 

"He owed no debt to others for his rules ; 

H is methods and his schemes were his alone ; 
Within himself he fashioned all his tools, 

And sat upon an unfamiliar throne. 

'"■ He never sought advice, nor could he bear 
The slightest interference with his plan. 

Nor change his course so much as by a hair. 
For love, esteem, or fear of any man. 

" Austere he was not, and was only stern 
When dereliction met him face to face ; 

And though his wrath did then relentless burn^ 
It quickly passed, and left but little trace. 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. A,A,^ 

"■ Life meant to him perpetual, earnest work — 

Uncompromising warfare on Pretence ; 
And woe to that poor wretch who. dared to shirk, 

Or slumber in the arms of Indolence. 

"His grasp was firm on all he undertook ; 

He saw his way as clearly as the sun ; 
Convictions formed he never once forsook. 

And things to do were things already done. 

" For slipshod, scrappy, half-done work, he had 

Disgust immeasurable and supreme ; 
He knew no middle way 'twixt good and bad, 

And carried thoroughness to an extreme. 

" He had no vain ambition to bestride 

The universal ; far too well he knew 
That this has been, must ever be, denied, 

Save only to the world's colossal few. 

" But what he did pretend to know or teach. 

He fathomed to its very inmost core, 
And ever deeper sank his mental reach 

Some well-worked mine still further to explore. 

" Profound, acute in intellectual ken. 

He left no problem to his mind obscure, 
But wrestled with it o'er and o'er again, 

Till it became his property secure. 

" This was the very essence of his rule, 

The fundamental law which lifted high 
His school above the ordinary school, 

Where memorizing cram bids thought [to] die. 

" But while he delved with wonder-working hand, 
And gathered treasure in abundant yield, 

He may have lacked at times the full command 
Of that nice tact which governs, all concealed. 



45 o THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

" And yet his government was firm and sure, 
And modeled perfectly in all its parts ; 

It knew no variance for rich or poor, 

And won the homage of all honest hearts.- 

" He was not versatile, nor could he be, 

With such devotion to a single aim ; 
He kept the narrow road, nor bent the knee 

Before the shrine of either gain or fame. 

" The social walks of life he little knew, 
Although in any place he was at ease ; 
• There was so much of pressing work to do, 
He had no time the multitude to please. 

" In truth, he lacked the inclination ; he 
Had naught to ask of favor or reward. 

Content to let Appreciation see 

Success from which he could not be debarred. 

"He followed God the Presbyterian way. 
But fooled not splitting theologic hairs ; 

Loving to read his Bible, and to pray 
That Heaven would keep his feet from hidden snares. 

" He made no quarrel with his brother's creed. 
Nor sought to woo that brother to his own, 

Well satisfied that others should proceed 
Their several ways to the eternal thorne. 

" No sham, no show was his ; but simple, true, 

In all relations of his long career ; 
With more than love — with reverence — we strew 

The laurel on his unpretending bier. 

'* Such was the master, who for forty years 
Ruled o'er these academic shades supreme ; . 
.And looking backward thro' our falling tears, 
How grandj how beautiful it all doth seem ! 



THE VICTOR CROWNED. 451 

" Grand as a temple, whose majestic dome 

Floats proudly in the empyrean air ; 
Beautiful as thoughts which to the suppliant come 

When rising comforted from healing prayer, 

'" We see the master here year in, year out. 

Moving e'er forward to his chosen aim, 
"With fervid earnestness unvexed by doubt,, 

Or chilled by ignorant, ungrateful blame ; 

'* Toiling and toiling with persistent love 

To train the mind and elevate the soul, 
And making this a consecrated grove, 

With names of thousands on its golden rolL 

" This was the lesson he so nobly taught — 
A lesson we should write for youth to view, 

And firmly fasten to their inmost thought — 
That Life is nothing save as we may do ; 

"* And do with that consuming earnestness 
That bates no jot though lions choke the way ; 

That pants and thirsts for thoroughness, 
And higher, higher grows from day to day ; 

'■'■ That nobly seeks those well-considered ends 

Within the capabilities' best scope, 
And every force of mind and body bends 

Untiringly, to realize the hope ; 

" That reckons Character the all in ali. 

And counts as dross the babblements of speech. 

Save as with fullest knowledge it may fall 
The words of wisdom and of love to teach ; 

" That marches bravely on, and scorns to weep, 
Though every passage-way be trebly -barred, 

And finds at last the solitary steep 

Where Virtue, smiling, waits with her reward." 



452 THE LIFE OF PROF. KEMPER. 

W. Speed Stephens, cashier of the Central Na- 
tional Bank of Boonville, has caused a memorial 
tablet, with the following inscription, to be placed 
on the walls of the church where Mr. Kemper 
worshiped : — 

*' Placed here by one of his endeared pupils to the 
Memory of 

F.T.Kemper, 

Long a useful Member and honored Elder in this Church. 
Born Oct. i6, 1816, he died March 9, 1881. 

" He lived the sentiment of his own words, ' It is accordant with 
my experience, with common sense, and the Bible, to seek first 
the Kingdom of God, and to do this with daily persistence and 
growing zeaL' ' The memory of the just is blessed. '— Pro v. 10 : 7. 

Thus has the patient, earnest worker been crowned 
on earth. As " they had finished his crown in glory, 
he could not stay away from the coronation," and so 
has passed up to hear, '-'■ Well done, good and faithful 
servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ^' 



APPENDIX, 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 

• 

*' 1 LOOK upon your sons, sir, 

And your daughters, fair and gay, 
And I ask myself this question — 

' Would I change with him to-day — 
I, who laid my household darlings 

'Neath the emerald sod to rest ?' 
And my heart instinctive answers, 

That ' whatever is, is best.' 

*' I shall never feel the pride, sir, 

It is true, that stirs your soul, 
When you see your sons promoted, 

And their names on honor's roll ! 
When you see your daughters courted 

For their elegance and grace, 
Making home a ' bower of beauty/. 

And a real resting place ! 

• But I have the sweet assurance, sir — • 
A sealed book to you — 

That my dear ones 'scaped all trial, 
With their years so bright and few ; 

That my boys have been promoted. 
And my girls learned grace and love, 

Through the teachings of the angels 
In the ' better land ' above. 

" And I have the sweet assurance 
That temptation ne'er can come 

To the tender, untried spirits 
Of my children in their home, 

* This chapter was written by Mrs. Kemper. 



454 APPENDIX. 

No, I would not call them back, sir, 

Even could they come to me ; 
Yet I hope, by grace, to dwell with them 

Through bright Eternity." 

Lewis Taylor, our first-born, on whom our affec- 
tions and hopes were so strongly centred, was taken 
from us at the interesting age of six years, six 
months, and six days. 

He was born in Hinsdale, N. H., among the gran- 
ite hills, at the home of my own childhood, and 
was six weeks old before his father saw him. He 
was thought, wdien an infant, strikingly like his 
father, and through his brief life seemed anxious to 
copy him in habits and appearance. He would often 
tell me that strangers would say they knew whose 
boy he was, he looked so much like his father ; but 
he was very apt to add, " Father thinks I will be a 
taller man than he is, and will know how to ride 
horseback better than he does/' 

At the age of three months we took him to his 
Grandma Kemper's, in Madison County, Virgini-a, 
and thence to our home in Fulton, Missouri. Al- 
though the weather was very warm, he gave us but 
little trouble, and seemed to improve in his health. 
Soon after our arrival in Fulton, at the age of five 
months, he was consecrated to God in baptism. The 
Rev. W. W. Robertson officiated, who remarked at 
the time, as did several others, how thoughtful and 
attentive he seemed to be, as though he understood 
the meaning of the ceremony. 

When seven months of age his nurse let him fall 
against the stove, and he v/as so badly burned that 
for several weeks he required sleepless attention. 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 455 

We sometimes thought he was less patient and ami- 
able through life on account of this severe burn. 
Quite a scar remained under his left jaw; but he 
often said, ",When I am a man as large as my father, 
my whiskers will hide this scar." 

Before he was two years of age his brother Eugene 
w^as born. The two boys, though differing widely in 
disposition and looks, we fondly hoped might be 
reared and educated together. But God's ways are 
not our ways, and we know they are better taught 
in the school of Christ, and happier, than we, with 
all our love and tenderness, could possibly make 
them. 

Once, as their father had them encircled by his 
arms, one upon each knee, he said, " Eugene is a 
sweet, happy boy ; I seem to have no fears about his 
future life. He will be contented, happy, and use- 
ful in any situation in which he may be placed. But 
Lewis is less happily constituted. He will require 
careful training and unremitting watchfulness over 
his earlier years, or he will fail of accomplishing the 
good he might do, and of securing his own highest 
happiness. I am always feeling anxious about 
Lewis, but Eugene is ever a sunbeam. I can see no 
clouds upon his pathway." 

A few weeks afterward, when our dear Eugene was 
transplanted to a fairer clime, I regarded his father's 
words as prophetic, little dreaming that, after the 
discipline of a few years, and when he was becoming 
to us all that our fondest hopes could wish, Lewis 
too, our first-born and first-loved, would join his 
brother and two little sisters in a world of unfading 
beauty. 



456 APPENDIX. 

When Eugene died Lewis was quite unwell, hav- 
ing a difficulty with his throat that bore some resem- 
blance to that fatal disease, diphtheria. He was not, 
therefore, permitted to attend the burial, so that his 
brother's death made but little impression on his 
mind, although he talked a great deal about his 
brother in heaven, and and " brother Genie's" playful 
remarks and cunning ways were often the subject of 
his conversation. 

In the month of March, 1861, I came to our farm 
in Cooper County with my two children, Lewis and 
Ida, leaving my husband in Fulton. There Lewis 
had great enjoyment, and rapidly developed into a 
strong active boy, fond of noise and boyish sports, 
and anxious to learn to ride horseback and drive the 
wagon. He also had a strong, unyielding will of his 
own, and sometimes required severe punishment to 
make him understand that he must obey without ques- 
tioning my authority. Once, when I told him that 
he must not dispute his mother's word, he replied, 
" But, mother, you 'pute me." This greatly amused 
his father. Gradually however, that self-will disap- 
peared, and in the latter part of his life he seemed 
anxious to do exactly what he knew would please 
his parents. 

When four years of age he learned his letters in a 
few days, but was so much interested in farming 
operations he soon lost his interest in learning, and 
did not enter school until past five years of age. 

In the fall of 1861 we returned to our old home 
in Boonville, and his father appropriated one hun- 
dred dollars (which his Grandfather Taylor had sent 
for his name) to buying him a pony, and, when he 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 457 

could ride well, a saddle and bridle. At first he rode 
behind his father, as his pony was quite wild. But 
very soon he ventured alone, and, although it ran 
away with him several times, he manifested no fear, 
but guided it with all the skill of an experienced 
horseman. 

Once he was on his pony's back, while it was 
walking about the yard eating grass. I happened to 
be standing near him, with my baby Julia in my 
arms, when Ambler (the pony) walked under the 
clothes-line and caught Lewis by the neck. I seized 
the bridle to turn him back, but he had taken but one 
or two steps backward, when to my horror I discov- 
ered my little Ida had followed me, and was so near 
the pony that another step in that direction would 
trample her under his heels. In my fright I dropped 
the bridle, and committing my little ones to our 
Heavenly Father, I closed my eyes for a moment that 
I might not witness the inevitable death, as it seemed, 
of one of my children. But not another step back- 
ward, and dear Ida was safe. Then whirling around 
toward the only side where he would not get en- 
tangled in the clothes-line, at the first bound he 
threw Lewis on the ground. I picked up the dear 
boy, badly frightened, but, with the exception of a 
bruised and bleeding neck, unhurt. 

He met with so many narrow escapes from death 
that I began to lose my anxious fears for his safety, 
and to feel as though I had assurance from my 
Heavenly Father that he would not come to his end 
by accident. But perhaps I felt equally certain that 
he would long survive both of his parents. 

A sensitive, retiring boy, who scarcely dared to 



458 APPENDIX. 

look toward or speak to a stranger, yet he was pos- 
sessed of true courage, as the following incident will 
•show. We had occasion to send him with a package 
of letters to an opposite part of the town. He rode 
his pony, and fastened it outside of the yard, taking 
his riding whip in his hand. As he opened the gate, 
two fierce dogs rushed out toward him, barking furi- 
ously. But he never quailed before them. For fix- 
ing his eyes upon them and brandishing his riding 
whjp before him, he walked resolutely forward. 
Some young ladies from an upper story were watch- 
ing him, and knowing that the dogs were really 
dangerous, rushed down the steps to his rescue and 
met him at the door. His pallid face and tremulous 
voice told them too well that he himself realized he 
had been in great danger. One of the ladies, in tell- 
ing me of it, pronounced it an exhibition of true 
heroism. 

Lewis witnessed the death and burial of his two 
little sisters, and a dread of the grave and of dying 
seems never to have been effaced from his mind. To 
me it has always been a source of sorrowful regrets 
that I did not labor to remove that dread. He would 
sometimes say, " Mother, would you feel very bad if 
I should die ?" After assuring him that I would be 
greatly distressed, I would turn his thoughts from 
such subjects by saying, " I think the Lord will spare 
your life, and you will grow up to be a man." 

Lewis entered the Sabbath-school as one of ray 
pupils, committing to memory every week one verse 
from the Bible. He also studied Scripture history, 
and manifested much interest in this exercise. He 
could not be called a child of religious sensibilities, 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 459 

but he was capable of deep emotions, as this incident 
will show. He had committed some offence that 
called for punishment. His father took him into 
another room for correction. When he returned his 
face expressed an agony I had never witnessed 
before, and throwing himself into my arms, he wept 
aloud. It was some time before he could speak, and 
his first words were, "Father didn't whip me, but he 
prayed with me;" and he then burst into a fresh 
torrent of tears. I could with difficulty soothe or quiet 
him. Long after his eyes were closed in sleep, he 
continued to sob and moan. 

In the fall of 1862 he entered school, and had then 
forgotten his alphabet. But he made very satisfac- 
tory progress ; and, although exhibiting no pre- 
cocity of intellect, we could thank God that he had a 
sound mind and a vigorous, well-developed body, 
and had high hopes of his future. The employment 
of his time in school and the development of his 
reasoning powers combined to render him much 
more tractable and sweet-tempered than he had been 
in former years. When consulting him in regard to 
his wishes or employments for a leisure hour, his 
usual reply was, " I will do anything you wish me, 
mother," or, "I will do what you think is best for 
"me." 

During the vacation of 1863 another child was 
born, and Lewis became the constant companion 
of. his father, accompanying him in all his rides and 
walks, and a portion of the day sitting by his side and 
reading from some new books his father had pro- 
cured for him from St. Louis. He acquired a 
knowledge of objects that few children of his age 



460 APPENDIX. 

possess; for in his rides with his father he learned 
the botanical names of plants, the names of trees and 
uses of their wood, and observ^ed the clouds and the 
stars. 

At that time my baby was so delicate that my 
time and thoughts were constantly occupied, and I 
had little care of Lewis. He entered upon his second 
school year the middle of September, and seemed to 
be interested in his studies and making commendable 
progress. But he did not like mental arithmetic, and 
I was soon satisfied that it was not best to pursue that 
study, and persuaded his father and teacher to let 
him drop it until he was older. At this time he made 
frequent complaints of a pain in his bowels. At 
first I feared it was an excuse to get rid of school 
duties, but after watching his case I was satisfied there 
was some serious cause of complaint. I consulted 
a physician, who seemed not to know what could 
cause these sudden attacks of pain. As he was well 
enough to go about and play all the time, and had a 
good appetite, I soon ceased to be uneasy about his 
case. 

In October, when Shelby's raid was made into the 
State, his pony and new bridle were taken. It seemed 
a crushing weight of sorrow to him. But it was only 
a short time longer that he needed any of the objects 
that afforded pleasure in this life, for his brief day of 
earthly existence was drawing to a close. 

About the first of November one of our boarders 
was taken sick with what the doctor called an ulcer- 
ated sore throat. Mary, a little black child about 
ten years of age, was often in this boy's room as a 
waiter. On the loth of November she was taken ill 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 461 

with what we supposed was a chill. Lewis was in 
the room where she was taken sick one or two hours 
that first day. The next morning I found Mary in a 
dying condition, and was with her so constantly all 
day that I scarcely saw Lewis. But in the evening, 
while Mary was dying, Lewis walked in with his 
books, and said, " Mother, I was sick, and asked 
cousin William to excuse me. My throat hurts me 
right here ;" and he put up his hands on both sides of 
his neck. 

I was alarmed, shocked, and it seemed as though a 
mountain load of calamities was coming upon me. 
Although poor Mary was so near her end, I could 
not stay, but took my dear boy by the hand, and told 
him we would go to the doctor. When I reached the 
office I found the doctor had moved to another part 
of the town. As I was carelessly dressed, I began to 
reason in this manner: "I am too easily alarmed; 
Lewis has never been sick, and there is no particular 
disease prevailing in the community. Mary's disease 
was congestive chill, and she had no trouble with the 
throat. Lewis talked so sweetly as I was leading him 
down the street ; he is not very sick, and the doctor 
might laugh at my foolish anxiety if I should go to 
him. So I will return home, and if my boy is sick in 
the morning, I can then send for a physician." 

Upon our arrival home Mary had ceased to breathe. 
Lewis seemed very comfortable, so that he ate a light 
supper of crackers and tea. I bathed his feet and put 
him in bed. But I soon perceived that his face was 
very red, and during the night he had a burning fever^ 
so that he scarcely slept at all. In the morning he 
was more comfortable, so that I did not send for a 



462 APPENDIX: 

doctor until after dinner. In the mean time some of 
the family said there were several cases of scarlet 
fever in town, and suggested that Lewis might have 
that disease. But I was still so confident that my first- 
born, ever so vigorous and active, could not have any 
alarming sickness, that I treated the suggestion with 
contempt. 

After the doctor examined him carefully, he turned 
to me and inquired if I had noticed the eruption upon 
his chest. I replied, '* Yes, and I supposed it was a 
favorable indication." ' He shook his head and said, 
"He has scarlet fever." The announcement over- 
whelmed me for a moment, and I said, " Oh, doctor, 
how can I bear it!" Lewis noticed my troubled 
face, and, as soon as the doctor left, inquired tJie 
name of his disease. I had no hesitation in telling 
him, for he had never heard of it before. He then 
asked, " What did you cry for, mother?" I replied, 
" I was so distressed that my dear boy was so sick." 
He then said, "Won't you pray for me ?" and a few 
minutes afterward, " If I die, I hope God will take 
me to heaven." 

He had medicine to take often, and some of it was 
very bitter. When his fever was raging high he 
would refuse to take it. Several times he was held 
while it was poured down. I have always regretted 
this course ; for Avhenever I would take time to 
reason with him, he would act nobly and take it 
cheerfully. 

The second night he said, "I'm going to heaven. 
It's all bright there. I see so many pretty birds." 
His fever was so high I do not know that he realized 
what he was saying. A few weeks before his illness 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 463 

he had thoroughly committed to memory the Lord's 
Prayer, having been taught it by his father. I was 
greatly comforted to hear him repeat it often, with 
his eyes closed, not knowing that any one was listen- 
ing. Verses of Scripture and a little speech called 
"The Boy and Lark" were frequently repeated. 
Once he said to me, "I wouldn't tell a lie, not for 
all the world," One day his father said to him, " My 
poor boy ! how gladly would I take your place and 
suffer for you and let you run about ;" when he 
meekly answered, "I rather it was me." When we 
would tell him we were sorry for him, he would say, 
" I am sorry for you, too." 

When he had been ill about a week we thought there 
were signs of improvement, and for one day we con- 
sidered him better. But during the night the pain in 
his bow^els returned, and the next day there was par- 
tial paralysis of one half of his body. They called it 
intiammatory rheumatism. He seemed in so much 
distress that his frequent exclamations were, " Oh, 
mother, I'm so sick ! Oh m.ercy, oh mercy !' ' One day 
when I had labored in vain to relieve him of pain, 
and he saw how distressed I was, he turned to me and 
said, " I love you so much, mother ; and I love father 
too ;" and then added, " If I die, won't you pray for 
me V 

At four o'clock on Sunday morning, Nov. 23, 1863, 
his stomach rejected the medicine he was taking. 
I was startled at this symptom, and then listened at- 
tentively to his breathing. I soon came to the con- 
clusion that our darling boy would not remain with 
us long. It was the first time in all his life that I 
had a serious thought of losing him. The agony 



464 APPENDIX. 

that was crowded into those few hours of watching 
his every look and movement can never be described. 
Why had I been so blinded as to think that disease 
and deatli were many years distant from a body so 
strong and vigorous, and a spirit that had known no 
sorrow or sadness? Oh, how bitterly I thought of 
many neglected opportunities of instructing him 
about heavenly things! But God was good to me, 
far beyond my deserts, in giving me some comfort- 
ing testimony, that his lone passage through the 
dark valley was cheered by a Saviour's forgiveness 
and smiles. 

About eight o'clock he seemed to awake from a 
sleep, and said, " Some one is knocking at the door." 
I replied, *' No, my son, you were dreaming ;" but 
his father sorrowfully added, " Yes, death is knock- 
ing for our boy." He then asked to have his face 
turned to the wall, and pointing up said, " O look 
there, see, see ! It's all bright there ; don't you see .^" 
and we could only hope that he had glimpses of 
heaven. For a few minutes he lay perfectly quiet, 
and then said, with great clearness in his tones, " I'm 
going to die to-night ;" but turning to me, with a 
distressed face, added^ "■ It's all dark in the ground." 
I tried to explain to him that he would nof be in the 
ground, and that heaven was all bright and beautiful. 
He then asked, " Will you die, mother.?" On being 
answered in the affirmative, he said, '' Will father 
die, too.'^" Our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Lawson, 
were there, and he asked, '^ Will Mr. Lawson die? 
Will Mrs. Lawson die? Must all our boarders die?" 
After telling him that every one must die before they 
could eo to that beautiful world where God lives, he 
expressed a desire not to be separated from his father 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 465 

and mother, and that they might go with him to 
heaven. Soon after he uttered this remarkable 
prayer, '^ Lord, forgive me for Jesus.' ' As this was not 
a portion of any of the prayers he had been accustom- 
ed to repeat, we regarded it as an offering of saving 
faith, and could almost imagine the reply of our Sav- 
iour to be, "This day shalt thou be with me in para- 
dise." 

His stomach now rejected the cold water that was 
so grateful to him. In unspeakable agony we were 
compelled to listen to his cries, ''I'm so thirsty ; 
wouldn't water white as snow do me good ? I'm so 
cold, can't you warm me at the fire?" I could only 
reply, " My precious child, we cannot help you, but 
will pray to God to take you soon to that bright 
world, where you will never be thirsty or cold any 
more." His consciousness w^as perfect to the last ; 
for wh€:n asked who was giving him wine in a spoon, 
he looked up and feebly said, "Aunt Bessie." As 
he looked around upon the boys, his father asked 
him who it was at the foot of his bed and in a voice 
still strong but expressing intense suffering, he 
answered, "Richard Gentry." He then closed his 
eyes, and, after a few gentle breathings, at about 
two o'clock, p. M., without a quivering muscle or 
a sigh, our darling first-born passed away from earth. 
" Our embraces will be sweet 
At the dear Redeemer's feet." 

Eugene Allison, our second child, was born in Ful- 
ton, Mo.' At his birth he was called a beautiful, 
happy-looking boy, and throughout his brief life 
retained that joyous disposition that endeared him to 



466 APPENDIX. 

his parents and interested all who saw him. At the 
age of five months he was consecrated to God in 
baptism. The minister, the Rev. Mr, Robertson, 
was much affected during the ceremony ; for, as he 
raised his hands to implore the divine blessing upon 
the consecrated little one, the dear child reached out 
both hands, and clasping a finger of the minister in 
each little hand, he firmly retained his grasp and 
gazed into his face until the prayer was ended. Mr. 
R.'seyes were filled with tears as he spoke to me and 
said, " Your child has deeply interested me." 

When one 5^ear of age he was very ill with pneu- 
monia, and for several weeks we considered him on 
the verge of the grave. But he seemed to perfectly 
recover his health, although quite delicate during 
the heat of summer. 

He seemed by nature to be a devotional child, for 
among his earliest plays was an imitation of his 
father's singing, reading, and praying at family wor- 
ship. When, a blessing was asked at the table, he 
placed his hands upon his plate and bowed his head 
reverently upon them, and without ever being taught 
to do so. Tlie first time he saw his brother Lewis 
kneel to repeat his evening prayer, he came also to 
kneel by his father. Although this was long before 
he could talk at all, he never failed after this to 
kneel down silently, while his father repeated his 
evening prayer. Some time before his death he was 
able to repeat his prayer himself. 

His gladsome nature bound him with strong ties 
to his father's heart. Several times I heard him say, 
'' Eugene has such a joyous nature, he will be happy 
anvwhere. I seem to have no fears about his future." 



A BEREAVED MOTHER, 467 

After his second summer he developed rapidly, talk- 
ed very distinctly, and grew fleshy and rosy with 
health. A short time before Christm.as his father 
bought him a pair of little boots. These greatly de- 
lighted him, and seemed to inspire him with such a 
feeling of manliness that he wished to walk out alone ,• 
and when he fell down he would not cry nor ask 
for help. 

At the comencement of the year 1861 a deep snow 
had fallen, followed by warm and melting weather. 
Eugene could with difficulty be kept in the house. 
Thinking his boots a good protection, I allowed him 
to run out, and the wet snow and damp atmosphere 
implanted a disease that quickly ended his life. One 
night I was awakened by a peculiar cough, which 
corresponded with the description given me of the 
croup. In alarm I got a light, but found him sleep- 
ing soundly. As he did not cough again, I supposed 
there was no danger. The next morning he was 
playful and apparently well. As the snow was all 
gone and it was a bright day, I took him by the hand 
and walked in the grove close by the house, he all 
the time prattling sweetly about the trees and the 
bright sunlight. 

The next day was the Sabbath. He was still hoarse, 
but was very quiet, and seemed to wish to "sleep in 
my arms. During the night there was considerable 
difficulty of breathing. The next morning T sent for 
a doctor, who looked at him anxiously and shook his 
head as he said, " It is a bad case of croup." This dis- 
ease was entirely new to me. He seemed so comfort- 
able I felt no alarm until evening, when his breath- 
ing became very labored. About ten o' clock, as Igave 



4^8 APPENDIX. 

him a drink of cold water, he could scarcely swallow 
it at all, and I was convinced he must soon leave us. 
His father and myself watched alone with him all 
night. Every hour we expected his struggles and suf- 
ferings would end, but toward morning he became 
easier, and slept sweetly for several hours. About ten 
o'clock his dying struggles commenced, and his 
father held him in his arms until twelve o'clock. Jan- 
uary 15, 1 86 1, his little spirit returned to its home in 
the skies. 

" God gave — He took— He will restore — 

He doeth all things well." 

Ida Webster, our third child, was born at Hook 
Nook farm, Cooper County. A few weeks after her 
birth she became so delicate for want of proper nour- 
ishment that I weaned her from the breast and fed her 
with cow's milk. This kept her quite delicate in her 
early infancy ; but before she was a year old she had 
become quite a healthy, fleshy child. At the age of 
fourteen months another daughter was born. From 
that time the sisters were so blended in their lives 
and death that their history will be related together. 

Julia Strong was born in Boonville, and was a 
fine-looking, healthy baby, and during her brief life of 
nine and a half months was a happy, beautiful child. 

Dear Ida was so grieved to be turned off to a nurse, 
who had known her but a few weeks, that my affec- 
tions seemed called forth with double strength 
toward her. To this day, I do not think any one of 
my children seemed dearer to me. 

After the Christmas holidays one of our boys re- 
turned with the measles, and exposed our entire fam- 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 469 

ily to this disease, which at that time was prevailing 
with fatal results. Ida was the first one to take it ; 
and having a cold and cough at the time, pneumonia 
and measles were combined. The doctor pronounced 
her very ill the first time he saw her, and for some 
time we thought her recovery doubtful. Julia did 
not take the measles, but she never seemed quite well 
after her vaccination. 

As the spring came on, I began to feel that my 
troubles were past, for my children seemed to be 
doing well and daily developing in interest. Our 
sweet little Ida won all hearts by her joyous prattle 
and affectionate disposition. As I turned her off for 
attentions to my baby, she clung with double affec- 
tion to her father. He never entered the room with- 
out her watching him closely, to see if he would 
notice her. If he seemed so occupied that he was 
about to pass her by, she would call out gently, 
" Papa," and continue calling in louder tones until 
she received a kiss, or caress, or ride in his arms. 
She often took a horseback ride with her father, and 
whenever she saw him on his horse, she would clap 
her hands with delight and say, " There's papa ! 
there's the popo" (meaning pony), and call for her 
bonnet for a ride. 

At the age of seven months she was baptized in 
Fulton by the Rev. S. A. Mutchmore, and although 
her earthly stay was as long as Eugene's (they each 
lacked but a few days of being two years old), I have 
no recollection of the development of her religious 
nature. Having turned her off for the care of my 
baby before she could talk, I do not remember that 
she was taught to pray, or vv^as instructed in many 



47° APPENDIX. 

things that might have developed her moral and re^ 
ligious nature. But as she was less than two years 
of age when her brief earthly pilgrimage closed, I 
have every hope and belief that she was gathered into 
the fold of the blessed Saviour, and, with the lambs 
of His flock, roams in the delightful fields and gathers 
bright-hued flowers upon the banks of the river of 
eternal life. 

When the warm summer weather came on in June, 
Ida was violently attacked with dysentery, and every 
remedy was unavailing to check it. I then gave up 
Julia to the nurse and devoted my entire time to Ida. 
As I was aware that she was very ill, I watched over 
her untiringly. After several days the nurse told me 
that she thought Julia was sick also. But she looked 
so well I could not realize it, and not until she re- 
jected all food did I obtain medical aid. She was 
pronounced a very sick child, having the same dis- 
ease as her sister, with the brain also involved. 

This was Friday morning. She lay in her crib most 
of the day in a quiet sleep, and the next day slept 
most of the time, with very little appearance of pain. 
Sunday morning she had an alarming spasm, but 
the rest of the day and that night still continued to 
sleep. Early Monday morning she passed into 
another spasm, and remained in an almost insensible 
condition until two o'clock of the same day, when 
the distorted features became still and smiling in 
the sleep of death. 

She had never been consecrated to God in baptism, 
for we had so much sickness in our family after her 
birth, there had been no convenient opportunity. I 
did not realize that she was in a dying condition 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 471 

until a few minutes before the spirit left its house of 
clay. The sweet little one had known no sin in her 
brief life of nine and a half months ; and among 
the spotless lambs who have been tenderly folded in 
the bosom of the Saviour, methinks we shall recog- 
nize our sweet Julia when with us " the toils of time 
are past." 

At that time I knew Ida was very low. It has al- 
ways been my conviction that if her stomach had 
been a.llowed rest, instead of ice-water, beef-tea, and 
other drinks, she might have rallied. But God, the 
wise disposer of all events, saw fit to afflict us more 
severely, and the mistakes, if 7Tiade, were a part of 
His plans. 

At night I laid down and slept soundly, in con- 
fident expectation that she was better, and that by 
resting I could do a better part by her the next day. 
It was four o'clock on Tuesday morning before I 
wakened and went to her crib. Her breathing was 
greatly altered, and I then knew that she too must 
die. The shock was great indeed. I had been so 
encouraged to think she was better, and she seemed 
so very dear to me, I liardly knew how life could be 
borne without her sw^eet society. I walked the floor 
in an agony that could hardly be endured, and I fear 
there was no spirit of submission to God's will. 

At the time Julia died, on Monday evening, she 
seemed perfectly conscious, knew all the strange faces 
about her, aflectionately kissed her father when he 
asked her, and was able to say " Rock a tee top." 
This was her saying through her sickness, whenever 
she was in much pain — alluding to a lullaby song, 
and meaning that she wished to be rocked in her crib. 



472 APPENDIX. 

But on Tuesday morning she was past all recognition 
of even those most dear to her, and in spasmodic 
struggles and labored breathing she lingered until 
eight o'clock. I was thankful at last for her suffer- 
ings to be over, and her wasted little form laid by 
her sister. 

They were laid side by side in the same coffin, form- 
ing a striking contrast : Julia in all the fulness of form 
and beauty of a sleeping infant, and dear Ida with 
sunken eyes and hollowed cheeks, and upon every 
wasted feature the imprint of intense suffering. Rev. 
H. M. Painter officiated at their burial. 

Blessed babes ! we miss you sadly, and though 

" We cannot, Lord, Thy purpose see, 
Yet all is well, since ruled by Thee." 

Walter Edwin, our fifth child, was born August 
15, 1863. Although at first a healthy, quiet baby, 
for want of sufficient nourishment, or by being fed 
improperly, he became wasted in flesh and very fret- 
ful. Then medicines were administered, and he still 
pined away. So I became satisfied that he could 
live but a short time unless there was some change. 
He was still in this condition, at the age of three 
months, when Lewis was attacked with scarlet fever. 
By advice of the doctor I sent him to his Aunt Bes- 
sie, five miles in the country, concluding that wean- 
ing might be of advantage to his health. It was re- 
ported to me that he improved rapidly on his new diet. 

The day after our dear Lewis was laid in the grave 
I hastened to my only surviving child, expecting to 
find him much improved. But he had taken a seri- 
ous cold, and I found him in an alarminc^ condition. 



A BEREA VED MO TEIER. 473 

I determined then to put liim back to the breast, and 
he soon recovered from his cold. He continued 
quite delicate, however, until six months of age, 
when he became able to take some solid food. 

As spring dawned he took great delight in being 
out in the open air. He learned, when his father 
took him in his arms and approached the outside 
door, to shout with delight at the prospect of going- 
out of doors. He early betrayed the propensities of 
a boy, in his fondness for noise and rough plays. 
The alarm-clock in our room interested him, and by 
signs he was constantly begging his father to open 
the clock. At its ringing, rattling sound he looked 
intently at the clock. ^When it ceased, with an ex- 
clamation of delight he would hold out his hands and 
ask to have it repeated. Such sounds to either of 
our little daughters when of his age would have 
caused the quivering lip and cry of distress. At such 
an early age in all of our children were developed 
the tastes and habits of the different sexes. He was 
inclined to be wakeful at night, and he interested 
himself greatly in the shadows on the wall, and 
would utter a cry of delight as he reached out his 
hands to grasp his own shadow. 

The severe cold he contracted when three months 
of age seemed to have weakened his lungs. Several 
times in the spring he was strongly threatened with 
pneumonia, but escaped serious attack. My feelings 
in regard to the child were, I will watch him so care- 
fully and constantly that he cannot contract disease or 
die. I should rather have committed him to the care 
of my Heavenly Father, with the knowledge that 
Fie only could preserve him from danger and death. 
21* 



474 APPENDIX. 

On the first day of May, 18645 we took him to the 
church, and he was consecrated to God in baptism 
by the Rev. James Morton. It was a solemn occasion 
to his parents. The recollection of our departed 
ones, who had been consecrated in a similar manner, 
was vivid in our minds. As the earnest prayer was 
offered that he might be spared a blessing to us, and 
grow up to years of usefulness, our feelings were, he 
must be spared, we cannot live without him. 

On the 24th of May I had been in the house the 
greater part of the day, and toward evening went 
into the garden for exercise. The gardener had 
brought home some cabbage-plants, and feared he 
had so m.any that he could not get them out before 
dark. I offered to assist, and also proposed taking 
one of the dining-room servants. On going to the 
house I found all were busy, as it was nearly time 
for supper. Mary Turner, the nurse, who was an 
experienced and careful English woman, was prepar- 
ing the baby's supper. I suggested that she leave 
the baby to play with the black children and attend to 
the dining-room. But with my usual solicitude, that 
no harm should come to my only child, I took him 
from the bed and placed him on the floor with the 
children, remarking at the same time, " He is safer 
there," I turned to take a parting look, and, with an 
admonition to the children to let nothing harm himj 
I gazed with fond pride upon his bright rosy coun- 
tenance — ^alas ! to see him no more until in the ag- 
onies of death. 

His position on the floor was such that he could 
catch hold of his nurse's dress while she was walking 
about in the kitchen, and once as she turned quickly 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 



475 



she pulled him over and hurt his head. To quiet him, 
she took him to the dining-room, placed him in a 
high chair at the table, and gave him some plaything. 
Immediately after she took a pitcher of boiling water, 
and, in her haste and entire lack of thought, placed 
it near him and left the room. In a moment more its 
entire contents were poured over his body. His nurse, 
hearing his screams, took him to the kitchen, and the 
cook, finding his clothing saturated with hot water, 
poured cold water over him and then began taking 
off his clothes. 

I was called from the garden, and reached him before 
the clothing was all removed. I shall never forget 
the look of imploring agony he turned upon me, as 
he heard my voice. But a mother's love and her ef- 
forts to relieve the torture of a hundred deaths were 
powerless now. As his clothing was removed, nearly 
all of the skin over his chest and back also came off. 
Even the soles of his feet peeled off when his shoes 
and stockings were removed. It was probably two 
hours after the accident before the little tortured body 
was fully enveloped in bandages of linseed oil and 
lime-water. He then passed into a sleep from which 
he never woke again on earth. 

He breathed all night with closed eyes and motion- 
less form. As day dawned there were a few spas- 
modic struggles, and our beautiful, sunny-haired boy, 
our only child, had his sweet face composed in the 
sleep of death. Very lovely he was in the robes of 
death, for his burn was entirely concealed, and no 
disease had wasted his form. Even the fearful agony 
of a few hours' duration had failed to rob his face of 
the smiling peace that a ransomed spirit imprints 
when it leaves its abode of clay. 



476 APPENDIX. 

"Because thy smile was fair, 

Thy lip and eye so bright ; 
Because thy loving cradle care 

Was such a dear delight ; 
Shall love with weak embrace 

Thy upward wing detain ? 
No ! gentle angel, seek thy place 

Amid the cherub train." 

Theodore, our seventh child, was born June 6, 
1866, and after a suffering life of five months also 
left us for a home in that world where pain and 
anguish are unknown. He was a fine, healthy babe, 
but in my anxiety that he should continue well, I 
procured a nurse whose milk did not agree with him. 
So many changes were made to add to his comfort, 
that his stomach became incapable of properly digest- 
ing any food. 

We named him Theodore (gift of God), thinking, 
as so many of our children had been taken, that God 
had given this boy as a special blessing and comfort. 
But more appropriately had his name been Benonl 
(the son of my sorrow) ; for a sad, sad life was mine 
from the time of his birth until his wailing voice of 
distress was hushed in death. I think that I failed to 
put my trust in God, but felt that this only son must 
be spared, and toiled for it and tried expedients, with- 
out looking for help from my Heavenly Father. 

After his death I had very rebellious feelings, and 
thought : God has not been a merciful Father in 
sending this affliction. For here have beenyf?'^ months 
of my life — a period of great bodily and mental suf- 
fering, of impatience and sleepless anxiety, of utter 
neglect of my family and family duties, of inability 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 477 

to assist my husband, or to improve my mind and 
cultivate my heart— and now the child is gone ; the 
brief life that never knew any comfort or happiness in 
earthly existence is prematurely cut short — and what 
does it all avail ? I felt tempted to believe that no 
God of wisdom and love ruled such a dark, sin-blight- 
ed earth as ours, and the gloom of despair was set- 
tling down upon my mind. 

But this state of mind could not last long, as health 
and reason would soon have given way in this resist- 
ance of God's sovereignty and goodness too, in His 
dealings with the children of men. I began to say, 
Perhaps God has afflicted me in this way to teach me 
that I must trust Him more fully, so that when the 
trial comes I can say, "Just and right are all Thy 
ways, O Lord God of Hosts," and '^ Though He slay 
me, yet will I trust in Him," knowing well that the 
light of eternity would make plain all the mysteries 
and dark providences of my earthly pilgrimage. 

I hoped and believed that long ago I had acquired 
this childlike trust in my Heavenly Father. But 
when the trial came, I found that I had leaned upon 
a broken reed, and there was no peace to my trou- 
bled spirit until I could say, 

" Subdued and instructed at length to Thy will, 
My hopes and my wishes, my all I resign ; 
* O give me a heart that can wait and be still, 

Nor know of a wish or a pleasure but Thine." 

Frederick William was born September 29, 1869, 
and died August 22, 1876. 

Freddy was a delicate child from his birth, and 
continued so until past his second summer. When 



478 APPEND IX. 

just two years old, as he was getting quite strong and 
healthy, on the last day of October, his sister Stella 
poured some poison in his mouth. He was then so 
near death that his pulse and breath were gone. 

He was very affectionate, but timid with strangers ; 
happy in the society of his father, but when in trou- 
ble his place of refuge was in his mother's arms. He 
loved all of his sisters, but especially Stella. When 
she was away he would seem lonely and lost ; when 
she would return, he would go into a transport of 

joy- 

He had a soft, fair skin, and when two or three 
years old would have made a beautiful picture with 
his curling golden hair, fair complexion, and blue 
eyes. I was anxious to have a portrait painted of 
him, but his father thought it would be encouraging 
too much pride in his looks. 

At an early age he developed a boy's nature in 
love of climbing and noisy sports. He also loved 
work, and had a great deal of system in his habits. . 
He had, perhaps, the most affectionate disposition of 
any of our children. He was fond of caresses and of 
pets. When walking past houses where there were 
birds in cages, he would stop to admire them and 
hear their songs. A dog was his special delight. 
The last six months of his life, a fine Newfound- 
land that Mr. Castleman gave him was his constant 
playfellow. In being allowed to make a selection 
of toys for himself, he chose a li-ttle jewel box, on 
the top of which was a carrier pigeon, with its pack- 
et tied around its neck and its wings spread in readi- 
ness for its long flight. 

He dearly loved music, and. could sing very well 



A BEREAVED MOTHER, 479 

nearly all of the Sabbath-school songs. In secular 
music his favorites were of a plaintive, emotional 
character. When Rev. John G. Fackler was visit- 
ing us, he said, "I can see that boy has the. greatest 
amount of energy in his composition just by the way 
he w^alks. He has the regular Kentucky stride." 
He was easily aroused and thrown into a passion, 
but was very soon penitent, and used to say, ''I 
would never do wrong, if I could stop to think.*' 
When he was about five years old, we told our chil- 
dren that We preferred being called " father ' and 
^' mother," and to the day of his death he used these 
names, while the older sisters could not remember. 

He seldom neglected his m.orning prayer. Indeed, 
whatever he made up his mind to do, he would sel- 
dom neglect. He took great interest in learning the 
Child's Catechism and his Bible verses, and was very 
thorough. The particular Scripture texts I cannot 
remember, except in a few instances : Eccles. 9:10; 
Prov. 21 : 33 ; Ps. 119: 105 ; Prov 16 :33 ; and Jam_es 4 : 
14. He had learned about two thirds of the Catechism, 

During the summer of 1875 I had an irresistible 
desire to go to the farm, and have no one but my own 
family about me. I longed for a closer contact with 
my children. While there, P'reddy learned about 
fifteen verses in the fifth chapter of Matthew, besides 
single verses in other places and several hymns. 
While there, Thompson McKenny, a Choctaw youth, 
took Freddy with him about a mile distant to his 
work. As I expected him to be absent but a short 
time, I passed hours of agony, until in the dim twi- 
light a form was seen coming across the field, and 
Thompson was bearing him on his shoulders. I felt 



4^0 APPENDIX. 

like the mother whose boy had been taken by the 
Indian chief as a pledge of confidence, when she saw 
his return, laughing and toying with the heavy 
plumes that drooped upon the chieftain's brow. 

For two weeks before the close of the school ses- 
sion in 1876 he was coughing quite hard at night, 
but he seemed well and active in the daytime. He 
took much interest in the speaking of the schoolboys, 
and would go by himself to repeat portions of their 
speeches. He expressed a desire to speak before 
the public, but I told him he was too young. I 
think he was a natural orator, for he would repeat 
all of his Bible verses and hymns as a declamation. 
He learned all of the 24th Psalm, and his tones grew 
eloquent with a full understanding of the grandeur 
of the theme. I could hardly realize that it was a 
child's voice repeating the lofty strains, " Who is 
this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the 
King of glory/' Whenever he heard a poem that 
pleased him, he would have me to read it over, one 
verse at a time, until he knew it perfectly. In this 
way he learned, "Woodman, spare that tree," " llie 
Old Arm Chair," ''Give me three grains of corn, 
mother." 

In anticipation of my going east during the vaca- 
tion of 1876, someone of the family said, "Freddy 
won't be satisfied to have you leave him, he is such a 
pet.'' Looking quite thoughtful, he turned to me 
saying, " Won't father be here ?" I answered " Yes," 
and he added, " Of course I can stay here with 
father." When I told him I should not go until my 
children were well of the whooping-cough, he said, 
''O you needn't stay for that, for I won't give any 
trouble, " 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 481 

He had contracted fresh cold from an exposure to 
rain in one of our trips to the farm, and had been 
weakened by bleeding at the nose. He did not there- 
fore go to church on Sunday, June 18, but studied 
the Catechism and learned James 4:14. While I 
was resting to recover the loss of sleep I had incur- 
red the past few days in nursing Susie, Freddy put 
the room in nice order, sweeping and dusting it. 
When I awoke I complimented his neatness, and he 
proposed that I should sit in a low chair while he 
brushed my hair. This was his last labor of love for 
me ; for on the morrow he was laid upon a bed of 
suffering, from which he never arose. 

When he first waked Monday morning his head 
was aching. I told him to lie in bed, and I would 
have his breakfast brought to him. But with his 
great energy and love of early rising, he dressed and 
quietly slipped out of the room. At 10 o'clock he 
came in sick, his hands and feet quite cold. Soon a 
fever came on, and he passed into a quiet sleep. He 
roused partly, and went into a severe convulsion. 
The next day he seemed to have two chills. We 
gave him a heavy sweat to prevent a third. This 
weakened him, and that night he was very ill, the 
brain being threatened with congestion. His fever 
continued until the tenth day. At the end of .the 
third week the doctor thought him convalescent, 
but in danger of a relapse and of serious trouble 
from his bowels, should they become involved. 

He was very patient, and well pleased with the ladies 
w4io helped me to nurse him. He was particularly 
fond of Mrs. Woolfolk. When she came, he would 
tell me that I might go and rest. When there were 



482' APPENDIX. 

watchers in whom he had less confidence, he would 
say, " You may lie down on the bed by me and 
sleep," 

Once he said to the doctor, ''Do you want to 
know how to make the children sfood ?" When the 
doctor assented, he replied, "You must keep them 
off the street and put them to work." 

He now had two days of comparative freedom 
from pain. On the Sabbath he sat up a long time in 
a rocking-chair, listened with interest to the reading 
of the Bible, talked with his sisters, and in the even- 
ing sang in a loud, clear voice with Stella and my- 
self his favorite hymns : " There is a land of pure 
delight," " Shall we gather at the river.?" " Let us 
cross over the river," and " Jesus loves me." 

About midnight, however, his pain returned, and 
before morning it was evident that his bowels were 
seriously deranged. This day was one of great suf- 
fering, and that night it seemed to me that he could 
not possibly recover. I felt a strong desire to talk 
freely to him of death and the heavenly home dar- 
ing this weary week of suffering, but I feared he 
was too weak to attend to any subject requiring 
thought. Very often, however, the feeling of his 
danger would so overpower me that I would say, 
" My dear boy, you are so sick I fear you can never 
get well. Do you feel willing to die, if it is God's 
wuU T ' Always very clearly and calmly, he would 
answer, "Yes." I would then add a hope that he 
would get well, and talk of something he must do, 
at soon as he v/as able. I took advantage of his 
most comfortable hours to read portions of God's 
Word, and I would repeat verses that he had com- 



A BEREAVED' MOTHER. 483 

mitted to memory. He always seemed very attentive 
and thoughtful, but seldom made any remark. In- 
deed, he talked very little during his sickness. 

The fifth week wore away with the same sad suffer- 
ing. The sixth week came, and we were gladdened 
by the return of Miss iVnnie McCutchen and Grace, 
from Brownsville, and it was about the only smile 
that had been upon his face when he greeted them. 
Annie brought him some choice candy and a ball. 
Mrs. McCutchen supplied him with handsome boxes. 
Aimee Gauss gave him a box of fancy crackers. 
All these he arranged nicely, and for many days took 
pleasure in looking them over. He never asked to 
taste of them. Mrs. McCutchen also filled for him 
and marked with his name a dozen small glasses of 
blackberry jelly. 

He had been fed upon milk, although for some time 
he had craved solid food. The milk now disagreed 
with him. In trying other kinds of food, we did him 
harm, and he was growing worse. 

He was very much attached to Misses Annie and 
Maria McCutchen. He was so happy to have Miss 
Annie with hima, that he scarcely wanted my care, 
and the dear girl will be fondly and tenderly associ- 
ated with all my recollections of his brief life. 

This week we changed his room, wdiich was very 
agreeable to him. Mrs. Bowman, who had had much 
experience with this kind of sickness, came to see him. 
Her advice and help gave me encouragement. On 
her second visit she brought Freddy a tame pigeon, 
a pet, eating out of their handsand perching on their 
shoulders. Being quite young, it had not been accus- 
tomed to going outside of the yard. The dear boy 



484 APPENDIX. 

held it in his hands, smoothed its soft plumage, spoke 
loving words to it, and then asked me to put it upon 
the window-sill, where he could look at it. The out- 
side door was partly open, but Mrs. B. said there was 
not the slightest danger of its leaving the house. 
For a moment only it rested upon the window, then 
it flew out of the open door upon the roof of the 
house, and then away, away, we could not tell in 
what direction and was never heard from again. The 
tears came into Freddy' s eyes as he saw it leave. We 
were so confident that it would return that Freddy 
crumbled a piece of bread to be ready for it. But 
when hours and days passed, he began to be re- 
signed, and we diverted his attention to other things. 
Was this an omen that my loved one was about to 
plume the spirit's wing for a heavenward flight? 
He examined a croquet set, which his father bought, 
but I could see that he was losing his interest in games 
and sports. He could hear the blows of the mallet 
and his sisters' voices, but he expressed no desire to 
be with them. His dog, too, his special pet, he scarcely 
noticed now. But his interest in everything con- 
nected with the Sabbath-school did not abate. He 
often asked about the verses and the catechism, and 
said that his class would be far ahead of him. One 
day, when suffering greatly, he sa'id, " Mother, I know 
you can't help m.e, nor the doctor, but the Lord can." 
I said, '' Yes, for He died to save you," and he added, 
" I know He did, 'the painful and shameful death of 
the cross.' " His desire was very strong to attend 
the Sabbath-school picnic, and he even v/anted to 
walk there. But at this time he was wasted almost 
to a skeleton, and we had to work with him very 



A' BEREA VED MO TITER. 485 

carefully to avoid giving him pain. In thinking of 
his extreme weakness, he was convinced that he could 
not walk, and was pleased with the suggestion of rid- 
ing down in his sisters' carriage. When Wednesday 
came he realized that he could not be out of bed, and 
said, " I did not think Thursday would come so soon 
or I would not have asked to go to the picnic." I felt 
thankful that a rain on Thursday caused a postpone- 
ment, as it lessened his disappointment. 

The seventh week he took the silver coins we had 
given him, and put them in the case of his grandfather 
Kemper's silver watch, which his father had given to 
him. I hung the watch near his bed. But with his 
usual carefulness, after a day or two he concluded it 
would be easy for a thief to steal his money, so he 
got Miss Annie to buy him a bank. One day, count- 
ing the silver pieces, he said, " I am going to use a 
part of this to mend my valise, and take half to the 
Sunday-school." But I said, '^ If you should not get 
well, shall I send it all for the heathen children ?" 
He answered thoughtfully, " Yes." I added, " What 
shall I do with your other things?" At first he said, 
'' I don't know," but afterward added, '' Give my toys 
to my sisters." 

I had borrowed a half dollar of his money, and, 
having no silver to replace it, borrowed two quarters 
from one of the servants. He did not enjoy this, and 
said those quarters were not really his own. As his 
father did not go to the bank that day, he sent for 
the servant, and said, " Mary, I want you to take 
your money, for father forgets to get any out of the 
bank, and I rather go without any than to have bor- 
rowed money." After this his money was replaced, 
and he was satisfied. 



486 APPENDIX. 

There was little improvement the eighth week. As, 
however, the doctor said he was doing well, his father 
on Wednesday went to Saline County. This trip had 
been delayed several weeks by his sickness. In a 
day or two he was better, and had one very comfort- 
able day. I noticed, however^ that Dr. McCutchen 
was watching him with unusual care. His soundest 
sleep had usually been early in the morning, but 
now at the earliest dawn he would awake and gaze 
very thoughtfully and quietly out of the window, and 
ask me to take him up in the rocking-chair. As this 
was the time of the night I slept most soundly, I 
would only waken enough to ask him if he could 
not wait a while. So thoughtful was he for my com- 
fort that he would remain perfectly quiet. How 
much I would give now to know what were his 
thoughts in that quiet morning hour ! 

One evening this week there was a severe thunder- 
storm and a crashing peal of thunder. This greatly 
frightened me, because I thought it would be a shock 
to him ; but he looked up at me wnth the greatest 
serenity, not speaking, but expressing wonder that I 
should be afraid. The latter part of this week our 
German gardener stuffed some of Freddy's old clothes 
Avith hay to make a scarecrow. It was quite comical, 
and would have drawn from him a hearty laugh in 
health, but when held before him he looked at it 
quietly, without a smile or remark. The next day, 
however, he expressed a desire to see a pretty calf 
that we had at the stable. 

The ninth week came in its weary round. I re- 
member very little of this last Sabbaih. My usual 
custom was to read short chapters in the Bible, to 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 487 

repeat verses he had learned, and sometimes to sing 
the songs he h3ved best. That niglit I plainly saw 
that he was not so well. It was due to improper 
diet. I was so troubled that a change for the worse 
should result from neglect or improper nourishment 
that I was obliged to go into some place of solitude 
to gain composure. I walked the room in feverish 
excitement. But when I knelt to pray for the dear 
sufferer, the torrent of passionate rebellion gave wa}^, 
and there followed a great calm. I rejoiced in a per- 
fect trust in God's power to heal and bless. I then 
thought this peace was an assurance that my boy 
would get well. I went back to his room and found 
him quiet and serene under dear Annie's soothing 
attentions. After this I interested myself, for the 
first time since his sickness, in the garden and in 
seeing visitors, to whom I talked cheerfully of Fred- 
dy's recovery. I promised him that I would take 
him to the country as soon as he was able to ride. 
He talked cheerfully with Annie, who propped him 
up in bed that he might cut out pictures from a 
paper. He wished her to make a bag for his marbles, 
and told her that he could fan himself and keep off 
the flies. 

That night he rested quite well and at the first 
dawn of day he called me, saying, ^'Father is com- 
ing home to-night, isn't he?" I answered, ''Yes ; 
and he will be so disappointed that you are not yet 
able to ride out with him." Quite early he asked to 
sit up in his chair, where he remained longer than 
usual, looking thoughtfully out of the window. Af- 
ter a while he said that he was cold, and I put him 
back into bed, never dreaming that the chill of death 



488 APPENDIX, 

was creeping over him, although I knew there was 
something unnatural in his desire for hot drink. My 
dear friend, Mrs. Judge Smith, came to see me, and I 
think she tried to give me a warning. I told her I 
felt perfectly reconciled to God's will, but all the time 
I felt that his life must be spared. 

About noon I sent for the doctor, as his hands were 
cramping. About two o'clock there was a twitching 
of the muscles of the mouth and a rolling of the eyes. 
When r asked him a question he failed to reply. 
Then, for the- first time, I realized that he would die, 
and told him so. But his ear was already unconscious 
of earthly sounds, and his eyes had no recognition of 
his dearest friends. I could not look upon his face now, 
so I buried mine in the pillow to hide from my sight 
my darling's dying agony. Just then his father enter- 
ed the room, expecting to greet his boy, greatly im- 
proved, but alas, to be met by the mute circle of weep- 
ing friends. The eye that would have beamed so bright- 
ly, and the heart that would have bounded joyously 
to welcome the father he loved so well, had now no 
consciousness of his presence. I once more tried to 
gain his attention by telling him his father had come, 
but it was too late, and we could do nothing but 
wait in silent agony the slow hours of fading life. 
He breathed quietly for an hour or more, and then, 
when the sultry August sun went down, without a 
quivering muscle the spirit returned to God w^ho 
gave it. 

I could do no more for my precious darling. The 
sleepless nights and a-nxious days were past. Leav- 
ing many kisses on the sealed lips, still warm with 
departing life, I left him for other hands to compose 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 489 

his wasted body for the grave. An hour afterward, 
when I looked at him, the glorified spirit had imprint- 
ed the smile of heaven on the pale face, ''Death 
could not steal the signet ring of heaven." On the 
afternoon of the 23rd of August our kind friends as- 
sembled. Rev. Dr. Gauss, who had been the faithful 
teacher of our dear boy, comforted and strengthened 
our hearts with precious promises of God's Word; 
and the hymns, "One by one we're crossing over" 
and "There is a land of pure delight," were sung. 
Then the precious dust was laid away until the resur- 
rection morn. 

I feel that there will be a dark shadow over all the 
rest of my earthly pilgrimage, when I recall my loss 
and his great suffering. There will doubtless be 
times, when I see an aged father bowed down with 
grief because of a prodigal son, or a youth while in 
a career of sin, cut off suddenly, that I shall thank 
my Heavenly Father that my boy w^ent safely home 
before he knew but little of earthly sorrow or sin. 

To Miss Josie Pinnell, his faithful Sabbath-school 
teacher, I feel under a great debt of obligation, for 
the dear boy's interest in his hymns and verses was 
chiefly owing to her happy manner of imparting in- 
struction. She also ministered to his comfort many 
of the weary days of his sickness. Mrs. Woolfolk 
was with us many nights, and he always seemed more 
comfortable under her soothing attentions. Mrs. 
Brewster, Mrs. Digges, Miss Mamie Brewster, Miss 
Sallie Edwards, Miss Nannie Lionberger, and others 
are held in grateful remembrance. Miss Birdie 
Brent made a wreath of geranium leaves and fragrant 
white lilies to lay upon his coffin. Miss Mamie 
22 



490 APPENDIX. 

Brewster supplied rare and beautiful flowers to 
wreathe his cold, pale brow. Miss Helen Spahr Very 
kindly made a pin-cushion for me from the material 
left of his burial robe. God grant that all these kind 
friends, with the parents and remaining children, 
may be of the number of whom it shall be said, 
" Servant of God, well done ; 
Praise be thy new employ ; 
And while eternal ages run, 
Rest in thy Saviour's joy." 
Lines written by Horace A. Hutchison, Esq., one of 
the old pupils of the school, on the occasion of Fred- 
dy's death. They are beautiful. 

"LITTLE FRED, 

ONLY SON OF F. T. AND SUSAN KEMPER. 
" IN MEMORIAM. 

'* Let the stars shine on his grave 

In their brightness. 
Let the lilies o'er him wave 

In their whiteness, 
For the beauty of the star, 
As it glimmers from afar, 
Is not purer in its light, 
Nor the lily in its white, 
Than the spirit of the loved one 
When from earth it took its flight. 

"Oft the tear of grief will flow 

When we're thinking 
Of the bitter cup of woe 

We are drinking ; 
And we feel that it is best 
That our little ones should rest 
In the loving arms of God, 
While we ' pass beneath the rod,' 
Ere they feel the hand of sorrow, 
Or in paths of sin have trod. 



A BEREAVED MOTHER. 491 

" Though his voice we may not hear 

In its gladness ; 
Though we weep beside his bier 

In our sadness ; 
Yet the tears of love we shed 
For the gentle spirit fled 
Will alight on memory's flowers 
Like the dew upon the bowers, 
To refresh and keep them blooming 
Through the dark and lonely hours. 

" From the weary world below 
, Early taken, 

From the touch of sin and woe 

To awaken, 
Where the tear may never start. 
Nor temptation try the heart ; 
By the shining, sinless shore, 
With the dear ones gone before, 
He will wait for other loved ones, 
Till they cross the river o'er. 

'' Boonville, Mo., Sept. 1876. 

These verses were written by Mrs. Alice M. Painter, 
the accomplished and excellent wife of the Rev. H. 
M. Painter: 

" TO MY BEREAVED FRIEND, MRS. S. H. KEMPER. 

SUGGESTED ON SEEING THREE LOVELY SPRING VIOLETS ON THE 
THREE GRAVES OF HER CHILDREN. 

" I stood beside the spot of earth 

Where my heart's treasures lie ; 
I could not keep the question back, 

Why did my darlings die ? 

" I hushed it as a feeling wrongs 

This tumult now within — 
Because to murmur, O my God, 

I felt 't would be a sin. 



492 APPENDIX. 

" ' God gave, He took, He will restore, 

He doeth all things well ' ; 
And gratitude's the feeling now 

My stricken heart doth swell. 

" Grateful to God that He doth find 

Me worthy of His love ; 
That He has called my little ones 

To dwell with Him above. 

" Lonely I am, and often sad, 

And sometimes even sigh — 
Sigh to break up this house of clay 

To go to them on high. 

" I turned to go, I could not stay 

Longer in this loved spot ; 
Life's duties hastened me away. 

For they are not forgot. 

" Upon those tiny heaps of earth, 

So precious in my sight, 
I found three violets blooming 

To fill me with delight. 

" Part of their precious dust they seemed, 

Fit emblem of the three ; 
And whilst I viewed the beauteous flowers, 

Their forms I seemed to see. 

*' Bloom on, ye gentle whisperers, bloom ; 

Ye bring me tidings sweet ; 
From out these heaps my babes shall spring ; 

In heaven I will them meet. 

*' Beside this spot I watch and pray, 
And hope and trust till life is o'er ; 
For well I know that each loved babe 
I'll meet where parting is no more. 

'' May 27, 1864. A. M. Painter. 



!j'^©^v!i avvd. ^©^^(^'^VSVvt^ 



Pag-e 76— Kev. W. H. Parks is authority for the statement that a 
gentleman, now li^•ing■ in the neighborhood of Marion Oolleg-e, was 
originally called by his father, "Tooth and Toe Nail against Marion 
College Johnson." This was afterward shortened tn "Tooth and Toe 
Nail;" then to Toe Nail;" and finally to "Tony." 
Page 93, line M, "highest" should be "high." 
Page 134, line 9 from bottom, "Crippled" should be "hindered." 
Page 142, line 1, "Obedience" should be "Obedient." 
Page Ito, line 11 from bottom, "were" should be "are." 
Page ;''oO. According to Fontana, Italian Grammar, page 119, the 
phrase, "Dolce far niente" means "It is sweet to do something." Nev- 
ertheless English usage justifies Webster in giving it in our language the 
opposite meaning. 

Page 296, Before "Latin C«'urse" insert: 

SENIOR CLASS. 

"1. Cicero's Oi-ations (Harkness); Ovid's Metamorphoses (Hanson 
and Rolf e); Virgil's Aeneid (Hanson and Rolxe); Latin Prose Composi- 
tion. 2. Xenophon's Anabasis (Boise); Homer's Iliad (Boise); Gi-eek 
Prose Composition (Jones). 3. Geometry, Trigonometry and Surveying 
(Davies), with use of surveyor's Transit, Compass and Plotting Instru- 
ments. 

"Side Studies.— Double Entry B.)ok-keepiug; Speaking and Compo- 
sition; Greek Testament (Owen's Acts); Church History; Vocal Music; 
Drawing; Tracing Constellations. 

Page 302, "equalling" should be "equaling." 
Page 310, line 9, "exercises" should be "exercise." 
Page 339, line 3 from bottom, "overnice" should be "over nice." 
Page 348, line 9 from bottom, "son" should be "Son." 
Page o6S, line 16, "Men talk" should be "Men may talk." 
Page 392, line 9, "mightier" should be "weightier." 
"Practice," noun and verb, should be so spelled.— Webster. 
Worcester and Webster both prefer "a humble" to "an humble." 
"2d" and "3d" should be "2nd" and "3rd." This innovation is not 
approved. 

Dates should be written regularly with cardinal instead of ordinal 
numbers. 




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